Excalibur; Medusa and Merlin c. 1981

Robert Peak created "Excalibur; Medusa and Merlin" and though we don't know exactly when, you can tell he was using watercolours. It is all about process here, about pouring and layering and seeing what happens. It's a dreamy world, isn't it? Look how he’s built up the image through washes and delicate lines, letting the characters emerge from the watery depths, or recede back into them. There’s a real sense of fluidity, of the paint itself having a say in the final image. I'm really interested in the branch that crosses the bottom of the image, which seems to act as a bridge between the real and the imagined. It's solid but indistinct, and it feels like a metaphor for the creative process itself. Peak was an illustrator so would be using these loose techniques to create other worlds, like Arthur Rackham, but in advertising, film posters and on book jackets. His looser painting style allows the image to transform into something strange, making the familiar seem otherworldly. Art is always an exchange of ideas over time, and there’s no right answer, just a space to dream.