Three Go Robbin'
Around 1996, I created my first book "Three Go Robbin’". This is a narrative which tells the story of three robbers who steal meat from the butcher's shop. They come to an unfortunate end, overcome by fumes down the well, where they hide the meat. The text is at the beginning of the book and is followed by 48 lino cuts. View the Book
Ten Cherry Blocks
This book began with a plank of cherry wood. I cut it up into ten blocks and made forty abstract colour woodcuts from it. The book contains twenty pages printed both sides. View the Book
Test Book 1
This was the first book containing my engravings rather than woodcuts. It combines patterns and images. It was the collating of my images in the convention of a book; beginning, middle and end; which rekindled my interest in the narrative form. The book contains eleven pages and is printed both sides. View the Book
Test Book 2
Here I re-used some plastic engravings I had made and reprinted them into a book format. I like the way the unconnected images suggest stories and the way these work with patterns. These test books influenced the making of the book “Downsized”. View the Book
Downsized
"Downsized" is a book which evolved throughout its’ production. Previous books had been a collection of prints, patterns, and images which suggested meanings and narrative. This book built on that, creating a collection of images representing the day I was made redundant. This developed in to the mug shot gallery of workers and their employee code. I then did a couple of poem blocks and put in some patterns to act as spaces. Finally I engraved blocks to tell the visual narrative of the day. I worked on the book for about two to three days a week, for a year, and made ten copies, one of which is in the V&A Artists Book Collection, so go and see it! View the Book
The Cycle
This book is currently in production and is planned to be finished in June 2007. It takes the visual narrative from the previous book and expands this idea into a full narrative. The narrative follows a couples’ struggle to bring up two children on low wages whilst dealing with the realisation that their lives do not match up with what is presented to them. After several events, the brothers end up repeating the parents’ mistakes. After a chance intervention, one brother begins to make different choices and starts to change his life. The narrative is told within 187 engraved blocks, and the book uses 200 engraved blocks. Each block takes one day just to engrave, with several months of drawing and preparation to reach that stage. View the Book