“William Blake’s character Orc and I did a metaphorical bar hop and imagined our way into a bar in Richmond on a typically cold, wet winter Melbourne evening. The windows were steamed up from the kitchen and after many whisky shots we were both worse for wear. Back in my real-time studio of course, it was gin & tonics…So, in my imaginary studio conversations, Orc was in verbal stream-of-consciousness about how men saw their violence as crucial to their hero’s journey…

This is a new drypoint print about my ‘imaginary’ meeting with William Blake’s Orc from his poem America a Prophecy (1793). In my process of painting Australia a Prophecy in 2021, I engaged with William Blake’s poem America a Prophecy and that poem’s main character Orc. The following is a transcript from my 2023 talk to The Blake Society in January 2023. I used the term “imaginary conversation” in a performative way to bring my process alive in that talk and to walk the audience through the concept of a focused imagination as a ‘doorway’ into the visionary processes…

My new article for the Routledge journal Critical Military Studies explores my painting ‘Australia A Prophecy’ where I invite William Blake’s 18th century character Orc - from his poem America A Prophecy - to travel forward in time to Australia to guide an alternative imaginary lens to unpack the gendered, mythological stories driving geopolitical & military tensions in the Indo-Pacific where I live.

Michael Newth flew to Perth after completing an original production of The Song of Roland from his translation from Old French. I connected him with voice actor Greg Marsden and we celebrated the audio book over dinner.

I am the featured artist in The French Literary Review this October, an elegant little journal in the south of France focusing its passion for poetry and prose around France or themes in connection with its history and culture.

My second cover art for US poetry magazine Breadcrumb Scabs is out for February 2010. View the full cover in the InPrint section.