Personalised bookplate art on recycled limestone paper

This is a little experiment on recycled limestone paper (also known as stone paper). The paper is super smooth and has a lovely feel to it, but it is basically calcium carbonate (80%) bonded with bio-polyethylene resin (20%). It is water proof and resistant to tear, but is sensitive to UV which means it biodegrades…

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Transcending the self as individual

“To transcend is to exist outside of the limitations imposed by our perception of time… (and) to be able to perceive existence as something greater than the self.” (“The art of not doing”, 2021) The limitations of our physical bodies – “trapped” in time (or our perception of how it flows) – lead us to…

Art inspired by the Fibonacci sequence and fractals

Above: Arbor Vitae (inspired by the Fibonacci sequence and fractals), 2021, acrylic and ink on Khadi 120 gsm cotton rag The Fibonacci sequence is ubiquitous in nature, and repeats itself as infinitesimal fractals. It was a fun exercise to explore how art can be inspired by mathematics. The spirals and curves are also strongly reminiscent…

Toilet Muse

Inspiration often comes when you’re sitting on the toilet.

Another Country (to Jeff)

In 1996, I posted this poem to a website. The World Wide Web was very young back then. A quarter of a century later, it is still there! And here is a painting of mine which I feel reflects the mystery of the poem:

Do we need to feel happy to be happy?

We all want happiness. It is a fundamental human need. The definition and pursuit of happiness may differ from individual to individual, but the psychological need is basically the same: the fulfilment of a deep need for a sense of meaning and love of life. Of course, we do not always think of happiness in…

Memory and the Imagination

We are so bound by our experience of time. We tend to think of time as flowing from one point to another, or as an arrow that moves in one direction, never standing still but continuously moving. As such, we are always in the present. A present that keeps moving, but because we exist in…

The Lighthouse

It’s been over 2 decades since I last wrote poetry, but this painting of mine, “To the Lighthouse” (2018), inspired the following words

Art, imagination, and the live tradition

Reflections on “The Gift” (1983) by Lewis Hyde.

The tasteless water of souls

I do not feel that – on my own – I necessarily have very much to add creatively or intellectually to the live tradition that is already in the air. In one way or another, it has already been said, written, done, articulated. The stories have already been told, and in a sense, all I…