Something Grand

Printed at 300 dpi this thing would be 120cm x 58cm: it's quite big. Properly framed, it would be even bigger. In fact, by my standards it's monstrous, and way beyond the capacity of my A3+ printer. But I either had to choose between those two kingfisher pictures, or put them together somehow. The idea of a triptych seemed an obvious way to do it.

If you think this picture is a little strange, either in concept or in execution, bear in mind that Hieronymus Bosch's famously weird Garden of Earthly Delights is a triptych, designed to be used as a folding altarpiece. I used to have a poster of the full triptych blu-tacked onto my teenage bedroom wall – believe me, in the 1970s Blu Tack was a really exciting new innovation – and it probably exercised more influence on my imagination and subconscious than I'm prepared to admit. The Bosch, I mean, not the Blu Tack, obviously.* I love the fact that, when closed, the reverse sides of the triptych's outer panels combine to show an image of a flat, foggy world spellbound within a translucent bubble, rather like those plastic balls in vending machines that contain toys, sweets, and other gimcrack delights.

All I need now is a patron prepared to have the thing manufactured on an appropriately grand and luxurious scale. I'm thinking a hand-made hinged frame, and gold, lots of gold. It's at times like these that one truly feels the absence of the deep and generous pockets of the mediaeval church. Thanks a lot, Martin Luther!

* Although only now do I realise that I've used a repeated blob of BluTack for the border of the central panel... Thus worketh the subconscious mind.