…burning bright,

In the forests of the night;



What immortal hand or eye,

Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies.

Burnt the fire of thine eyes?

On what wings dare he aspire?

What the hand, dare seize the fire?

I was wandering through Barnes and Noble when William Blake’s “Songs of Innocence and of Experience” caught my eye. As I flipped through, I came to “The Tyger”. I love the way Blake’s illustration (above) incorporates the poem as an integral part of the picture.

I am still working on big cats, and this poem, a staple of my childhood, seemed appropriate for the tigers. All except the last are painted on rice paper, which I enjoy because you can’t control the results as obsessively as I normally try to do. The second one was first monoprinted from the body colors I put down for the 4th one (leaving those colors faded); then I painted on top of it. Then I painted over #4.

You can read the entire poem here: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/172943