Notebook No. 143 (frontispiece)

Notebook No. 143 (frontispiece)

I work prolifically in notebooks. Possibly too much so, as not enough escapes its cardboard walls, not as much as I would like sometimes.

But then in many ways my notebooks can be quite prosaic - shopping and to-do lists, recaps and repetition, scribbles for diy projects, you name it, it goes in there. Not the sort of stuff anyone wants to see, not the sort of thing i'm keen to share.

I began numbering my sketchbooks back in Art School in Dublin, and generally they take between 2 and 3 months to fill. So here I am, not far off one score years, and fourteenty-three books, later.

The flowers are symbols of February. The Primrose (first flower) representing Eternal Love, and the scented Violet, representing faithfulness. Both flowers have hearts within them - the former in its petals, the latter in its leaves.

Plus, of course, a self-portrait with dip-pen, in silhouette.