Roundel painting 14 inches wide on wood, showing a snake undulating in a decorative swirl around the roundel with the background laid in gold leaf. The snake holds a stem in its jaw with an apple with some leaves attached. All the colours are warm earth pigments.

From the Artist

For this painting I looked at the work of William De Morgan, a ceramicist from the Arts and Crafts movement. He had designed a few tiles using serpents and I used these for inspiration. The markings on my snake resemble some of his patterns combined with my own. I was thinking of the Adam and Eve story and also of the wisdom of the Serpent. My snake is therefore not sinister.