Artwork description:

the longest journey

Each year about a million Arctic Terns fly from the North Pole to the South Pole and back. In a straight line the journey is around 24000 miles but their real journey is likely to be twice that. Arctic Terns are long-lived birds of up to thirty years and they spend most of their lives on the wing. In a lifetime they may well fly well over a million miles, encountering the seas and skies from which they sprang and whose light and life provides their being. The longest journey any of us have ever made is from our birth to the present day and in duration we encounter many and various roadblocks. I’m minded of Bob Dylan’s song ‘Tangled up in blue’, part of the lyric runs:
And when finally the bottom fell out
I became withdrawn
The only thing I knew how to do
Was to keep on keepin' on
Like a bird that flew
Tangled up in blue

This print is pulled from an engraving cut from a sheet of rubber, a variation of letterpress. After removal of areas that are to be left as white paper, the rubber sheet is then rolled up with ink and pressed to paper, producing the print. The technique does not accommodate reprinting, so the edition is forever fixed at 7 copies.

The print is oil-based black ink on high quality acid free paper, and should present no difficulty from fading in any situation.

This print will fit straight into a 10x12 inch frame.

Materials used:

Black oil based printing ink, Hahnemuhle etching paper 300gsm

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