This is the first panel of a planned triptych (panel 2 was completed in June 2013) to celebrate the 'Year of Iona 2013' and 'In the Footsteps of Saint Columba'. The brief only required a single painting representing the idea of Pilgrimage, but for me the ideas that the subject inspired could not be described in a single work of the limited dimensions necessary to fulfil the commission.

The background colour (silver: to denote the redemptive work of Christ) now blocked in and the drawing outline - to recall stained glass windows and the work of Georges Roualt - has been started.

Some additional work completed. Made the bee look more like a 'Bumble Bee' to appease critics who remarked "What's with the wasp?"

After too long a time, work is progressing apace. Some minor amendments as we progress, but so far happy as we go forward....

Beginning to come together now, but still revising the concept as I work. It will only be complete as a painting when all three panels are finished. Then comes the task of writing the explanation to go with it. The written part is very much a part of the whole, so these works should perhaps be considered illustration as well as finished pieces in their own right. Like Marcel Duchamps 'Large Glass' there is a sense in which the work is never finished, only a point where the idea has rested only to be revisited and re-energised (resurrected) in another painting, or another form

This panel is now completed. Hoping to have the whole thing ready before the end of the year.