A few years ago, I wrote a short story in 32 very short chapters.
It was about a long journey undertaken by four protagonists:
A lonely girl, two Fighting Fish, and a Giant Spider.

The fish were the girl’s pets. They were married, but the relationship was so toxic,
They had to be kept in separate jars. Regardless, they kept on fighting through the glass.
The female fish was secretly in love with the spider, who would sit next to her jar and tease
her mercilessly. Because he could.
The spider was in love with a girl who tolerated his presence.
She let him wander around under the condition that he would never come near her bed.
Unknown to her, his favorite pastime was to walk all over her body while she was asleep.

One day, the girl had enough of her loneliness and decided to catch a plane to San Miguel de Allende.
A town in Mexico, where she was very happy in the past. There is no airport in San Miguel.
She flushed the male fish down the toilet, picked up the jar where the female lived, and left.
Imp spider hid in her purse.
Male fish survived the drowning.
He navigated the city sewage system with the assistance of an old rat and a few cockroaches.
He reached the open ocean and also headed towards the same destination.
There is no ocean in San Miguel. It is situated in the middle of the desert.
After a long and perilous journey, they all reached their destination independently and died soon after.
That story was my metaphor for life.

I created 32 digital illustrations for this project.
Edition of five books only – about 100 pages each – all the images would be hand-finished by me.
As a result, every illustration would be unique.
The idea was to print it on high-quality lithography paper and hand bind it between linen-covered, wooden covers.
I aimed to create a book that would look like a volume of handwritten text from the Middle Ages.

It was an enormous project and it was going to take a long time to complete.
The launch was to take place in May 2021 at the Gallery that was representing me in Sydney at the time.
There would be an exhibition of my prints as well as those five books on offer. …
We all know what happened in March 2020.

I haven’t given up.
The work is ready to go, and waiting to be published one day.
In the meantime, I am posting some of the images here.

'Book Cover'

'Two Jars and the Spider'

'The Girl and the Spider'

'The page header'

'The mock page'

'Girls Departure'

'There is no Airport in San Miguel'

'Airport in the Desert'

'Male Fish and Rat'

'Out into the Ocean'

'Fisherman and Female Fish'

'Girl at the Pier'

'Girl and the Barmaid'

'The Dream Catchers'

'Girl in the Pool'

'The Game of Cards'

'The Last Judgement'

'Exit'

'Everybody is Dead'