Life RY

This print started life as an idea in a sketchbook, literally ‘taking a line for a walk’, in the words of Paul Klee. My studio is on Leonard Lane, an ancient alleyway in Bristol notorious these days as a haven of street art, and I’ve wanted to make my mark on it for a long time. One Saturday in 2019, while my daughter Bea was invigilating the Centrespace gallery and I was hanging around to keep her company, I painted a large version of it on the wall of the lane. Miraculously, my first foray into street art remained un-tagged for several months, but it is now submerged by several millimetres of paint on all but the very top of the design. Shortly afterwards I decided to make a screen print of it with Simon Tozer - the coloured ground was his inspiration, and I’m really pleased with how it turned out. It’s an exhortation, an encouragement and a recognition that nothing lasts forever.