1981 Screenprint and colour aquatint, with etching, on white wove BFK Rives paper
405 x 250 mm. Purchase: The artist 1982
Number 7 of an edition of 35. Printed by the artist at the Visual Art Department, Llanbadarn Road, Aberystwyth. Part of the third edition of a set of four prints created in response to the poetry of the Rev. Professor W. Moelwyn Merchant (1913-1997), a poet, sculptor, academic and Anglican vicar at Llanddewibrefi between 1974 and 1978. All four images join together to form one landscape
Dyfed landscape and a poem. An etching of the skull of a sheep in a barren hilly landscape. Dust-ground aquatint with etched lines, scraping and some burnished highlights. Printed in black and blue-grey, blue-grey for clouds. Below is the following seven verse poem by Moelwyn Merchant; REVEALING A SKULL THE SHEEP DIES;/LYING ON ITS SIDE,/THE HEATHER TOO YIELDING,/IT STRUGGLES BRIEFLY,/BLEATS ITS SURRENDER. THE BUZZARD SEVERS THE VERTEBRAE,/ CLAWING THE TISSUE FROM THE BONE. CROW BUZZARD AND KITE CIRCLE/IN WATCHFUL ORDER,/ UNGRACIOUSLY CONCEDING PRECEDENCE/AND IN SUCCESSION/DELICATELY PICK THE SHREDS./ THE SUN DRIES THE REMNANT TISSUE. WINTER SNAPS AWAY THE FRAGMENTS,/ THE SKULL REVEALED, WHITE AND EMPTY. SPORES AND DAMP AIR ADD THEIR GREEN FLUSH,/THE ILLUSION OF LIFE
