They rise upon clouds and sport in the wind

We went to the Ashmolean exhibition on Blake today (its last day, must get more organised) and it was superb. I’m not a fan of either his art or his poetry but I’m fascinated by his politics and his influence and, from today, by his extraordinary inventiveness. When I was studying Innocence and Experience I saw facsimiles of versions of the original book and wondered about the slightly uneven print. Now that I know that his solution to wanting printed text and images on the same page was to engrave all the text in mirror image, I am in awe at his skill.

We’d left home in sun (having put washing on the line for the first time this year) and reached the Ashmolean under thunderous skies. It was somewhat like this when we came out, though less dramatic. I confess to a touch or seven of Blake-influenced processing.