Busy with good things

You may be wondering where I have been, as I am rarely online and have missed a few classes...

I have been teaching a lot of 121s this year, which is a great joy. Do get in touch if you'd like one here by the river. Soon we'll be outside in the fresh air without getting chilly. There is always tea and a cosy fire if we do get cold.

Other work has included teaching introductions to T'ai Chi at various events and places of work, which has been interesting and rewarding.

I am in the middle of illustrating a new hardback edition of Paul Kingsnorth's 'The Wake' with the publishers Unbound. It really is a dream commission, as 'The Wake' is one of my all-time favourite novels, and his follow-up 'Beast' is also a must-read, more of which in a later post. I have 6 more drawings to do this week before I feel I have the portfolio pretty much ready. I will tell you more about how you can get involved in the near future. It's going to be a very beautiful colour edition and include a section at the back about how I made the tools, brushes, pens, inks and paints from all natural, pre-Norman conquest available materials. There will also be photos and a bit of text about it in the next edition of Dark Mountain.

I have written the lyrics and melodies, then recorded the parts and harmonies for 4 songs for a Japanese producer called Mojage. There will be an LP coming out this spring. He knew my work with Susumu Yokota and Rothko, and somehow tracked me down - no easy task as I no longer have a music site anywhere on the web, and am erroneously listed as 'a London poet'. 'Yeah, right' is probably the best response to that bit of fake info. I will post a link to the LP details when I get them.

So it's been a busy and creative late winter so far. Looking forward to seeing all the Scots for T'ai Chi this weekend too.