Origins of the Love Life design

The design itself started years back. One Christmas I made a piece of artwork for Megan as a present. Over the autumn I collected all the cluster flies which had sought shelter in the house but perished on the windowsills and then I glued them delicately on to some stencilled letters which read LOVE LIFE. It took ages and a few legs became detached!

I wanted her to think about the value of life, however small, or despised, and to begin to realise that everything wants to live, that nothing wants to die and that we should never fail to respect this. And also to never forget that it also takes all life to make the world go round in a harmonious and sustainable way. When she unwrapped it I’m afraid she was less than impressed… thankfully she now gets it. So it worked – its even on the wall!

This design, which I created whilst sat in my caravan during Springwatch of 2018 , is the practical and logical extension of the idea. Dead flies wouldn’t work on a series of posters, even Jealous would probably baulk at that… and its not just about one species, its about all life. So, minus the plants and fungi, there is as much life there as possible, all smothering the message, almost obliterating it with its magnificent and diverse abundance. I wanted the heart to be filled with life and the message not a suggestion but a command. Because if we don’t LOVE LIFE. ALL LIFE then we are in big trouble.