My visual essay in VALA, the journal of The Blake Society in London, is called "A Field Manual for A Lost Soldier: William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell as a Course in Complexity". Their theme is War & Peace. Marriage can help us unravel the complexity of our times. Military leaders also need reminding that limiting their creativity to technologies to kill blinds them to the shape-shifting qualities of Blake’s God and Satan.

This canvas is one of 4 images I painted for my visual essay in VALA 5. Written for an international audience, it is a comparative reflection on William Blake's rather complex 1790s poem ‘The Marriage of Heaven and Hell’ and the ‘UK Defence Doctrine 2022’ (UKDD), together with some philosophical classics which together create an alternate lens on new capabilities amidst current global, geopolitical tensions in both Europe and the Indo-Pacific of 2023…I hope it makes a positive contribution at a very challenging time for us all.