"The Fools New Journey Tarot"conceived and written by John Matthews and illustrated by me was published by Schiffer in 2023 and now available from the Atlantis bookshop in London.

It was an interesting and challenging project as totally new concepts were introduced, intermingled with the traditional card images, all to be illustrated in a clearer, cleaner, stripped down form, free of the cluttered ornaments and symbolism usually portrayed.

The making of the images was indeed a new and sometimes perilous journey with the gentle but firm guidance from John who steered it through to the new clarity he was looking for.

I painted this mural over a couple of months at the end of 2025 on the wall surrounding the rock garden at our house near Cape Muroto, Japan. A fat Ganesh figure, the god of good luck, prosperity and well being, greets and welcomes visitors outside the front gate.

The challenge was to create imagery inside that would work happily with the existing paintings on the lower level made by my wife, Shing, and what to make of the middle band acting as a barrier between the two. This became a Paul Klee-ish ambient border pattern with dragon and peacock designs at either end.

The main imagery comprises a series of what I describe as : "Metamorphic figures" with panels of a Ship of Fools journey on one side and seated Buddha statue figures and a Shikoku pilgrim on the other.

The Ship of Fools.

Seated Buddha and Shikoku Pilgrim.

The technical challenge was how to make it work on rough, damp and damaged surfaces. Thanks to some amazingly versatile Japanese paint, and working it to incorporate an instant patina of old age, I achieved the final result. How long it will last is guesswork.

The ensemble, from the extraordinary rocks on the ground level and up in bands to the mountains behind make a tableau of psychedelic surrealism, which can delight or horrify those that enter.

This mural is a commission from friends of mine in Japan. It's in the style of my Beasts series, originally inspired by my visit to the Paleolithic painted caves in the Dordogne

The Youtube Summary: Big thanks to Alan Tibbitts of DVX Productions for this excellent short film that tells the Story of the Giants of Plymouth Hoe. Featuring some stunning aerial photography by Wes Ashton and a song specially written for the installation by Julian Littman (Steeleye Span), the piece includes Steve Johnson's explanatory interview with Plymouth Historian, Chris Robinson MBE. There is also additional footage of the creative process described and masterminded by the Giant's artist Charles Newington (White Horse at Folkestone) and his team.

Sponsored by the Plymouth Waterfront Partnership, the Plymouth Barbican Trust, Plymouth Argyle FC, 29 Commando, the Hirshfield Foundation and Plymouth City Council, the result, as Diane Mansell, CEO of the Plymouth Waterfront Partnership suggests, is something really positive for Plymouth over the summer of 2021. The story of Britain's Ocean City starts here, and if you're to believe Geoffrey of Monmouth, so does the story of Britain itself!

Supported by Plymouth Waterfront Partnership, Plymouth Argyle, 29 Commando, the Plymouth Barbican Trust and the Hirshfield Foundation, the reimagining of the figures is the work of Charles Newington, the artist who created the Giant White Horse hill figure above channel tunnel at Folkestone.

The Giants project represents a brilliant celebration of Plymouth's 4,000 year back story as one of the country's greatest trading ports and is seen as the ideal opportunity to reinstate this significant slice of local and British history.

Chris Robinson, local historian and PWP Board member said: "Harking back to the Bronze Age tin trade from Dartmoor via Mount Batten, around 1500 to 2000 BC Plymouth Sound has long been a point of contact to many Mediterranean peoples. The celebrated 12th century chronicler, Geoffrey of Monmouth, spoke of the Trojan Brutus and his army arriving on the shores of Albion and pitting his champion warrior, Corineus against the leader of the land of the giants, Gogmagog. In the ensuing conflict Corineus, after suffering three broken ribs, lifted Gogmagog clean off the ground and hurled him from the Hoe straight into the sea. This is the depiction that Plymouth's giants will show on the grass beneath the Royal Citadel."

The giants will be painted onto the grass on Plymouth Hoe using line marking paint sponsored by Plymouth Argyle, and the lines will be maintained throughout the summer by 29 Commando. These figures will recreate the markings that are thought to have been carved into the Hoe in the 1400's.

Councillor Nick Kelly, Leader of Plymouth City Council said: "We're pleased to have been able to support this temporary art installation to be recreated on the iconic location of Plymouth Hoe. This artwork, which has been created and delivered at no cost to the council or the people of Plymouth is a great celebration of our city's history and will add further reasons to come and visit our beautiful and historic waterfront."

The original giant figures were lost when the landscape of the Hoe was changed with the construction of the Citadel in the seventeenth century and are now known as the two famously "lost gods of Albion", the only remaining large human figures being the Cerne Abbas giant in Dorset and the Long Man of Wilmington in Sussex.

John Matthews, the author on all things mythical and magical, asked me if I would be interested in illustrating this.

Based on Christina Rossetti's famous poem "Goblin Market", he adapted this curiously incompatible theme with a very different variation on the traditional tarot.

I made some trial drawings last summer which were well received by John and Watkins, the publishers. Then all 80 images for the deck flowed out in record time. I am waiting now to see the final proofs with John's book which will be launched in September/October.

Talking to my old friend Julian Littman, guitar wizard, composer and member of the folk/rock band Steeleye Span about reviving the still unpublished book I illustrated to accompany the CD "A Musical Interlude with Mr Edward Lear", sung by a host of stars with Spike Milligan narrating, all composed and produced by Julian and the, alas, late Jonathan Hodge, he was intrigued with the idea of the Goblin poem and has now produced a whole suite of songs with the Steeleye band and Jane Milligan.

"Goblin Market Music" will be released as a C.D. now simultaneously with the tarot.

My partner Shing's new children's book has just come out and it is going to be a runaway success!

It is available to purchase as a paperback or digital kindle version from amazon.

For more information check out Shing's website