It began with a book.

My dad was a classicist, and one of his most treasured possessions was a copy of Virgil printed in 1515—a book we were not allowed to touch as children.

He told me incredible stories of one-eyed giants, women with snakes for hair, and people wandering in strange lands.

Best of all were the woodcuts that illustrated them.

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My favourite was a humble scene of two farmers in a field. A storm is coming, and they are worried about their crops.

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Forty years ago, I carved my own copy. I still have the wooden block and can still print from it.

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Cutting up one of my prints I combined the two figures.  I liked the pose of the man holding a sheaf of wheat and the staff carried by his companion. 

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Together they formed the Wanderer—the figure who now journeys through this series of paintings.