Jade They

Three colour linocut illustrated book cover for ‘Feral Borough’. Written by Meryl Pugh for independent publisher Penned in the margins.

Set in the urban pastoral of an East London postcode, Feral Borough asks what it means to call a place home, and how best to share that home with its non-human inhabitants.

In this captivating book – part herbarium, part bestiary and part memoir – Pugh explores the effects of loss, and lockdown, on human well-being, conjuring the local urban environment as a site for healing and connection.

In this image a Muntjac Deer as it is one of the animals described in the book, foliage and trees surrounding litter and discarded NOS balloon canisters with the London city skyline in the background.

Set 1 of my 48 commissioned art works to decorate a deck of ‘Spirit of Discovery’ a Saga cruise liner, each deck is has artworks from one british artist.

This project was titled ‘in time of roses (and other flowers)’ after a line in the poem ‘in time of daffodiles(who know..’ by E. E. Cummings. Having grown up near the New forest I have always had a love of forests and finding unusual flowers and plant formations. In this series, I explore classic botanical drawing and look for a dramatic new twist in my compositions and colouring. The subject I have chosen to study as the centre of this work is the well known, common British flowers and the life that they sustain. These are a classic symbol of the English seasons and the variation in nature as a whole. I have taken plants that people viewing the artwork might know and see on a daily basis, I have tried to take this well known subject matter and put them in a different light. The character of each plant show an individual quality unique and fascinating once they’re stripped of their cliched formalities and surroundings.

Each artwork is hand carved in lino and hand printed in relief, colour is then added as a separate layer, and the artwork is then printed as a large fine art Giclée print on Hahnemühle acid free paper.

Set 2 of my 48 commissioned artworks to decorate a deck of ‘Spirit of Discovery’. A closeup exploration of some of people’s favourite flowers Chrysanthemums, Sunflower, Anemone, Jasmin, Blackberry bush & Clover.

Set 3 of my 48 commissioned artworks to decorate a deck of ‘Spirit of Discovery’. British flora and fauna, in this set I wanted the images in a slightly more symmetrical pose but with the same dynamic impact of the previous.

Set 4 of my 48 commissioned art works to decorate a deck of ‘Spirit of Discovery’.

Set 5 of my 48 commissioned art works to decorate a deck of ‘Spirit of Discovery’.

Set 6 of my 48 commissioned art works to decorate a deck of ‘Spirit of Discovery’.

Set 7 of my 48 commissioned art works to decorate a deck of ‘Spirit of Discovery’.

Set 8 of my 48 commissioned art works to decorate a deck of ‘Spirit of Discovery’.

A small linocut illustration for the Wildlife Trusts UK magazines summer -autumn issue, accompanying a piece on walking in nature and using it as a time to spot Britain's wonderful wildlife.

Spot illustrations for Ernest Journal’s series on pieces of classic clothing and their history.

Illustrating articles for Delayed Gratification, including stories on illegal guns trade in Panama, the murder Bruce Alan Liitleton and the lengths he went to to fake his own death, dancing made illegal in certain areas of Japan and public radio helping democracy in Oman.

Specially commissioned for a client’s birthday from her family. This is a multilayered linocut of Pendle Hill in Lancashire. For more on this project and a bit about the process behind it, check out my blog!

Two commissions made for Structo Magazine, one a fully illustrated issue with an interview with Margret Atwood, an article on the life of Jean Rhys and illustrated cover and end pages. The other is a one page illustration of short story ‘The incidental’ by Keir John Pratt, expressing the loss of a father and the inheritance of a book collection.

My portraits of Pablo Neruda and Aldous Huxley, two writers that had a profound effect on me as I grew up.

Illustration of Joan Margarit for Structo Magazine issue 20, appropriately labeled the issue for the inbetween times of 2020. A beautiful collection of stories, poetry, interviews and essays. A black & white image of this illustration accompanies an interview with the poet, architect & retired professor.

Two linocuts made for Ernest Journal, illustrating J. A. Baker's excerpt article from 'the peregrine' in 'Through the eyes of a falcon.' Issue 5.

Based on Two poems by Dorian ‘Paul D’ Rogers for Quint Magazine in Dubai.

Make me cry
Say something saffron and crushed velvet that will crush me.
It's been so long since I leaked from the cracked clay of cheekbone.
I've become hardened and coarse,
barren barely recognizable.
Nothing moves me anymore.
Sing me a novella through ghostlike windpipe. Vibrato me to weeping.
Tell me a poem that will make the demons inside me snap
their fingers and leave me in shame and repentance.
May the Lord forgive them and solder angels' wings to their spiked spines.
Give me an image that makes me remember why I'm here tonight.
Wake me out of this fool's gold doldrums where cubic zirconium stars
dangle from thin strings and tumble on to dull drums.
When that first tear falls,
don't be tempted to wipe it.
Let it trickle down and
do a rain dance like the indigenous
so that more will be summoned
Some will drip from my chin.
Others will run down my neck
under my shirt
down my chest
leg
toes
and form a puddle in the web between them.
Let the dust there
become fertile mud
where a seed can be planted
and a new life can begin.
But first you have to bring me back
to humanity, un-Frankenstein me
and make me cry.

The Phenomenology of Roundness
Life is most definitely round.
I stopped chasing my future when I found it in my back
pocket after taking my clothes out of the wash the other day. 
It was hidden in the lint and blue jean matter.
I no longer get teary-eyed when my past pants
in my ears like a loose hyena.
I reminisce my grandfather's laughs in the present
tense although his tombstone where he lies lies
and says he is long gone.
Time is cyclical, and Westerners are dying earlier
from the depressing effects of believing it is linear.
Certain African tribes call it zamani, the "now-ness of time". 
I call it the roundness of time
because that just sounds cooler.
I will name my first daughter Zamani although my wife
will call it "ghetto" and swear that I will be cursing her
to a life of unemployment. I will tell her to get "o-ver" it
and laugh at my own inside joke.
Our universe is but one sud in a soda can.
Nipples aren't erogenous zones but baby bulls' eyes.
When someone calls you zero or rates you as such, 
take solace in the fact that they compared you to something round.
Nothing squarish is cool except some board games.
Octagons mean to halt. Triangles force you to be cautious. 
Rectangles sound like accidents and getting caught in snares.
Circles claim the sun, earth, cells, and wombs as their shape-bearers.
Eggs are this shape and so are buttons that fasten and unhinge.
Want to have an equitable meeting?
Set chairs in a circle.
Get around to it.
Want to tell someone you understand? Tell them, "Oh".
Look in the mirror and say it to see what shape your lips make.
Form your mouth in a round fashion to give the ultimate satisfaction to your man.
Men get slapped by their spouses for getting distracted from roundness.
Ditch the stop lights and take the round-a-bout.
Look around you and all you will see is round.

Illustrating an article arguing in favour of reintroduction of the Goshawk and other birds of prey back into London.

Book cover design for ‘Under the Stars: A journey into light’ by Matt Gaw. An exploration of the power of light and what we’re missing when we set artificial light everywhere around us. My illustration is inspired by Gaw’s descriptions of walking by the light of the moon in Suffolk, wondering under the buckshot of starlight in Scotland and into the darkest depths of Dartmoor.