Creation is not only for artists. Students who are discovering their voices to call for a ceasefire in Gaza are, collectively, creating a moment in history. Those opposing it will apply the same silencing, disparaging comments, and threats, as they have to artists who have challenged doctrine for millennia.

Artists paint especially when there are no words left…

My visual essay in VALA, the journal of The Blake Society in London, is called "A Field Manual for A Lost Soldier: William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell as a Course in Complexity". Their theme is War & Peace. Marriage can help us unravel the complexity of our times. Military leaders also need reminding that limiting their creativity to technologies to kill blinds them to the shape-shifting qualities of Blake’s God and Satan.

A watercolour unique state version of my drypoint print The Mental State/Lamb of God (2023). A unique state is a one-off art piece because the artist changes the print by applying other media such as paint or gold leaf. As with the print, the theme is the same, and I did a post about this a while ago. The colour changes the meaning for me. I uploaded this print because the colours felt unworldly, like a prayer.

My visual essay comes out when The Blake Society’s launches issue 4 of its journal VALA in London on November 29th, 2023 (Blake’s birthday is the 28th). With encouragement from VALA’s Editor, I decided five months ago to finally create a shop on my website to sell my art (& especially my VALA prints) direct from my studio.

We face a lot of difficulties as a species right now. It would be unreasonable to suggest it has not been in all our minds daily. I hope regardless of your faith or belief that you will consider doing this short meditation: Guided Meditation on Paramahansa Yogananda’s “A Prayer for Peace on Earth”. Join Self-Realization Fellowship monk Brother Bhumananda for a guided meditation on establishing peace within yourself and then radiating that peace to the world. It is approximately 10 minutes in length