Long Tailed Ducks

1998
Woodcut
48x80cm

This print was inspired by the beautiful long tailed ducks that winter in Shetland and was inspired by the ducks off the beach at Norby in Sandness on the west side of Shetland. It was here on Norby beach with the Long Tailed Ducks that I met two people that have become very good friends who were both there working with the long tailed ducks.
One of them is the artist Howard Towel who was drawing the birds through his telescope , and 25 years later is still drawing the birds through his telescope.
Another person is David Wege the wildlife tracker (check out his recently published books on bird and animal tracks https://davidwegenature.uk/. ) who was photographing long tailed ducks and something told me to go and say hello and a great friendship opened up as a result.

In this print I dramatized the tails to make them stand up proud to build up lots of dynamic diagonal lines to build energy and movement across the composition . Circles also started to appear in my art during this period and looking back at this print I think it was quite seminal in paving the way for much of the rhythmical work that was to follow in terms of working with circularity , not just in compositional terms but also conceptually.
The ancient peoples preferred the circle over the straight line , and the mysterious stone circles they left behind are constructed in ways that are in tune with the powerful mystery embedded in circular dance between the sun and the moon offering us lessons that help could help heal our contemporary chasm to the earth we live on. In nature time moves in seasonal cycles of death rebirth and growth in ways that are aligned to the turning of the earth the sun and the moon. Day and night, winter and summer season and tide are all are expressions of the circle .The circle has no beginning nor end is constantly moving in tune to the great cosmic dance of creation. The circle does not speak the language of division but of unity and as such there is no hierarchy in the circle.
Lakota visionary Black Elk speaks of the power of the circle when he says
‘because the power of the world always works in circles, and everything tries to be round . . ..
The sun comes forth and goes down again in a circle. The moon does the same and both are round. Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing, and always come back again to where they were.
Black Elk speaks .