Bridge of heaven

'Bridge of heaven'

This piece is double sided.

Gouache and copper ink on handmade Kozo fibre paper dyed by Naoaki Sakamoto with indigo. Made for a Wordsworth Basho exhibition at the Wordsworth Centre Grasmere 2015. On one side (X6) is Wordsworth's account of climbing Mount Snowdon at night. On the other (X7) Basho's Haiku about looking at the Milky Way towards Sado Island. This sheet will come up for sale in the new year.

From the Prelude Book 13 by William Wordsworth

Many words here, but this is an extract that sets the scene

Meanwhile, the moon looked down upon this show
In single glory, and we stood, the mist
Touching our very feet; and from the shore
At distance not the third part of a mile
Was a blue chasm, a fracture in the vapour,
A deep and gloomy breathing-space, through which
Mounted the roar of waters, torrents, streams
Innumerable, roaring with one voice.
The universal spectacle throughout
Was shaped for admiration and delight...

Basho, from his travel journal The Narrow Road to the Deep North

Rough seas. Ah!
But all the way to Sado Island
the milky way