The etymology of the word ‘branding’ is to ‘burn’. It was (and I suppose still is) a deliberate act of violence perpetrated against livestock to signify ownership.

In this vein, I am today committing a deliberate act of violence against my own blog.

It is now known as Mysterious Windows.

This name comes from a line in Henri Nouwen’s book ‘The Return of The Prodigal Son’, in which he describes his favourite painting, by Rembrandt, as 'a mysterious window through which we can step into the Kingdom of God’.

This pretty well encapsulates what I feel about art: when we find ourselves in front of a great piece of art, if we stay there a while, it can slow us down, open us up, and through some mysterious process, reveal to us something important about the world and our place within it.

It is this mysterious process that I am trying to chart on my (now branded) blog.

Would you like to peer through some mysterious windows with me?