Starting to think about @openstudioscornwall which will now be taking place at the end of August. In my virtual open studio on a couple of days it was all about Barn Owls against busy abstract backgrounds as I was thinking about the way in which they and other wildlife has to navigate our noisy modern world... My paintings are often informed by poetry if not directly responding to it... Here is And Owl by Ted Hughes Floats, a masked soul listening for death. Death listening for a soul. Small mouths and their incriminations are suspended. Only the centre moves. Constellations stand in a we. And the trees very still, the fields very still As the Owl becalms deeper To stillness. Two eyes, fixed in the heart of heaven. Nothing is neglected, in the Owl's stare. The womb opens and the cry comes And the shadow of the creature Circumscribes its fate. And the Owl Screams, again ripping the bandages off Because of the shape of its throat, as if it were a torture Because of the shape of its face, as if it were a prison Because of the shape of its talons, as if they were inescapable Heaven screams. Earth screams. Heaven eats. Earth is eaten. And earth eats and heaven is eaten. . . . . . #openstudio @openstudioscornwall #studiotour #virtualopenstudio #openstudios

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