A talisman

"C’était un jour béni
Nous étions sur les plages
Va-t-en de bon matin
Pieds nus et sans chapeau
Et vite comme va la langue d’un crapaud
L’amour frappait au coeur
Les fous commes les sages.."

Guillaume Apollinaire

This is the text written down the right hand side of the painting.. often words in a painting are not really meant to be read - more of a texture or mark-making element. This painting (50 x 60 cms, mixed media on canvas 2005) belongs to a series where I wanted to release certain images from the entrapment of my sketchbooks and let them out on to the walls. The text is a sort of talisman; i write it in the front of every sketchbook before I begin. It is not really describing a happy beach scene of course but is making a sarcastic snipe at the WW1 soldier's life. It reminds me to seek depth. Everything must always have more than one meaning. The painting was used on the cover of Richard Douglas Pennant's poetry volume "Old Stones New Tales. "