Ashes to ashes

In the Burren (County Clare on the south shore of Galway Bay): One day last week I was walking up on the hillside behind the college. Martin’s sheepdog was with me and we cut up the old nature trail. A ways in and off to the right I found a goat carcass, partially decomposed (Martin’s sheepdog found this very interesting). It was lying on its back in a hollowed out part of the hill under a hazel wood tree. The place was soft with moss and sheltered from the wind and I thought if it was me, I too would want to lie down here to die. I crawled in and made a couple of quick drawings, one at top. Later in the week I began making other drawings, remembering and feeling what it was like to be there. The flesh and bones in my pictures began to melt into and become the landscape, the layered, rocky limestone dusted with soil and grass. Which is pretty much exactly what will happen up there.