In 2001 I painted a version of one of the beautiful masonic tracing boards created in the 19th century by Josiah Bowring in 1819. I sold this quite quickly and did not think to return to this theme until 2008 when I was able to obtain some high quality photographs of a number of tracing boards.
I became very interested in this rather focussed set of art works, and began to research this rather obscure area. Not being a Freemason, I had little direct access to this material, but there were some good books dealing with masonic imagery and I used these to reference more material on this theme.
Eventually I would like to make copies of all these items. Early in 2010 an american was kind enough to commission me to make another copy of the Bowring, much improved on the version I had made back in 2001 when I had used a canvas support. The weave of the canvas compromises the detail one can achieve. They look rather good as small paintings, rather than as large floor cloths.
This inspired me to return to work on this theme. I was also able to obtain a number of engraved versions of tracing boards and I am gradually working through colouring these and will eventually produce a book on this theme. I now have good photographs of the amazing Harris boards and hope in time to make copies of these.