The Lidded Lands: An Artistic Journey into Guernsey’s Ancient Past

The Lidded Lands invites us to imagine the Channel Islands as they were thousands of years ago… a world we can only trace through stone and bone. The title speaks to both the physical and the imagined: “lidded,” like the covered burial passages across our lands, and also like the closed eyes of dreamers, imagining worlds long forgotten.

My Artistic Exploration

I’ve been exploring four interconnected themes that fascinate me about our ancient past:

1. Connection with Nature:

Our Neolithic ancestors lived in harmony with the natural world. Land, sea, and sky were inseparable from survival and spirituality. In today’s digital age, I feel there’s a deep-down yearning to reconnect with the elements. My paintings depict the wonder of the islands’ landscapes; glorious sunsets, raging storms, northern lights dancing over ancient menhirs, and the blood moon rising above standing stones. I hope visitors can step into the shoes, or goat-hide slippers! …of those who came before.

2. Natural Monoliths as Sacred Places:

Guernsey’s rock formations, from the Peastacks to Gannet Rock, have always felt otherworldly to me. I’ve tried to paint them not just as landscapes, but as living presences, capturing the sense of sacred power these places may have held thousands of years ago.

“Edge of Land” view of Les Crevichons and Jethou from Herm & “Circles” Sunset at the Fairy Ring

3. Submerged Settlements and Rising Seas:

I’ve long been captivated by prehistoric settlements now lost beneath the waves—the land bridge between Crevichon and Jethou, the Dom Hue site, now a popular surf spot. Imagining what people thought and feared as the seas rose inspires much of my work. The ebb and flow of the sea has always shaped our islands, just as it continues to do today.

4. Sacred Monuments and Lost Heritage:

From the Dehus Dolmen to Herm’s burial grounds, these sites offer glimpses into lives and beliefs long gone. Many monuments have been destroyed over the centuries, and I try to capture the stories that may have disappeared with them.

James Colmer, Magnus Buchanan and Vesna Parchet

Collaboration and Creative Dialogue

This exhibition is a collaboration with Vesna and Magnus Buchanan. My work is rooted in the physical landscapes of Guernsey, Vesna’s paintings channel the spiritual and animalistic, and Magnus’ poetry gives voice to the ancient inhabitants. Some of my paintings are inspired by Magnus’ words; some of his poems respond to my visuals. Together, we’ve created an immersive experience that blends image, word, and imagination.

I’ve also introduced figures into several paintings. They act as narrators, helping to transport viewers into the perspective of someone standing in these landscapes thousands of years ago. Lines from Magnus’ poetry are displayed throughout the gallery, giving another layer of context and connection.

Experiencing The Lidded Lands

I invite you to soften your gaze and imagine. Pull yourself toward the earth, sea, and stars. My vibrant works, oil paintings, watercolours, and charcoals capture the power of the islands while reflecting on our own connection with nature.

Highlights include “Sea-Flex I”, inspired by Magnus’ poem Flood, exploring our primal relationship with the ever-shaping sea, and “Flame Was Friend”, a Cobo sunset rendered in vivid colours.

I’ve created 40 works for this exhibition, in a variety of shapes and mediums. The Lidded Lands is my attempt to explore nature, survival, faith, and the continuity of human experience and I hope it transports visitors to a land and time long forgotten.

You can see The Lidded Lands at Art for Guernsey Gallery, where I share this collaborative journey into the ancient past of the islands.

To give you a taster, here is some of my artwork with Magnus’ poetry…

Wolf Kin

your pack makes
many moons of eyes
beyond the hearth fire

flint-jawed prowlers
four-legged foes who
tear flesh from our bones

our clan grasps
flaming branches to
scatter your shapes

yet night after night
burnt meat brings
your shadows back

and dropped bones
become tossed scraps
furtive feet become

sure steps and draw
many moons of eyes
close to the hearth fire

and then side by side
our footfalls chase prey
together by day

your noses and ears
follow the whispers
of every fleeing foot

our hands hurl
flint-fangs furthest
into circled flanks

until foe-fur feels
friend to fingers
flint-jaw is turned tongue

and pack and clan
are kin-knit with
many moons of eyes
around the hearth fire

Stand the Stone

the stone must be stood

for the stone will wait
past root past rain
past ash past flame
past name

but no me moves the stone
the stone only walks with we

its ghost still sleeps
but we rub its jutting nose
and feel its empty eyes
and the marrow murmurs

only a giant can hold a god

the long limbs of trees
become our arms together
under the waking stone
as many hands row as one
across the rolling land

our smoke rises
and speaks in the skies
so our stone must
stand on the hill
and watch the shores

for the closed-fisted foe
may reach shore first
but the tallest stone
sees furthest

the burrow is hollowed
the barrow is hallowed
our lidded lands are filled
with the tales of our bone kin

and now our stone will wait
past root past rain
past ash past flame
past name 

Stone Song

stand the stone raise the sun
make the moon stand the stone

grasp the rain seize the smoke
feel the ghost touch the bone

carve the curve twist the path
past the arch carve the curve

in the sea’s swirl sea’s swirl
sink with the deepest fin

in the wind’s whirl wind’s whirl
rise with the highest wing

before the snail grew his home
after the whelk shed her shell

where the snake’s head eats his tail
and the eel’s tail feeds her head

reach with one hand and clasp the other
join the hands that have one mother

bear the born where bones still lie
raise a giant from mud by a blood moon

let the living walk in the lidded lands
let the lidded lands walk in the living

Tide Twin

under the shimmer-skin
i sleep in the rock pool

twinned to only cloud and sky
until my wandering kin

skitters across the rocks
and gazes again in my eye

so i find myself wondering
as the sunlight glitters

on her wishbone legs
on her branching arms

stretching out above as
her face tilts to one side

and her shadow bends and 
breathes me into ripples

and her tossed pebble 
swallows me in circles

then her ghost gone i blink

before i wait once more for
tide and sky to tell her tale

while the ‘I’ she will be
sleeps still inside my eye

Above: Lidded Lands, Bright Hush and Moon’s Bow

Above: Pool of Sky and The Tallest Stone

Raise the Sun

Giants

Tides Arrow

Available Artwork

I did over 40 artworks for this exhibition and there are only a few left to buy, which you can view in my Guernsey Originals section

The Art for Guernsey exhibition finished 31st January 2026. New horizons coming soon!