Memories, looking for birds nests as a young boy in a Celtic landscape, “Too long ago”, remind me of the little Yellowhammer.  Fascinated by markings on its eggs, we boys called it the “Scribbling Master”. Random scribbled markings on its shells appeared to be drawn with a frenzied fine nibbed pen.

“Scribbling Master”

The egg has become a recurring symbol in much of my abstract art work.It is a symbol of rebirth, of new life, a motif of regeneration following times of turbulence. I view the Yellowhammer’s primitive shell crazing  as patterns that precede new beginnings, a precursor to change.

“Germination 1” and “2”

Coils of new life emerge like ribbons into a world, as if breaking away from primitively crazed shell patterning. I relate this abstract approach as a portrayal of the human spirit and its resolve to overcome adversity.  A metaphor representing the struggle  and tenacity of people who often escape from broken and hostile environments to start afresh in a new place.