We are delighted to have been approached by a poet in Canada to illustrate one of his poems, ready for publication in an anthology of his work. This is very exciting for us and the first time that we have had to respond to someone else’s words collaboratively.

The painting was initially worked in watercolour, using bold washes and textures which suggested skeletal forms to us. We then worked into the surface with ink, drawing out the fantastic shapes of femur, joint and vertebrae, whilst allowing the original marks to inform an alchemy of meaning.

Constructing and deconstructing imagery with a view to enabling deeper interpretation has become essential to our work. Within that, our collaborative approach must be completely free flowing, spontaneous and evolutionary. We are prepared to sacrifice each other’s marks (and our own) and we both embrace the importance of questioning, reworking or even destroying areas to achieve true creativity and life in our work. It is essential in fact and just a step on from what we all do as artists when applying a new paint stroke, drawing with a rubber or carving further into a form. The next step being that we offer the work to each other to apply a further dimension.

We will post a link to the book when it’s published and wish David all the best with his project.