A painter and etcher, Blaker enrolled at Brighton School of Art in 1945. His initial two years did not include etching, which he only discovered, with some excitement, by seeing into the etching room while painting a mural on the School’s staircase wall. For his final two years he specialised in Illustration, because that included etching classes. And a decade later, 1955-56, he returned to the School to attend the Friday etching classes. After a peripatetic, somewhat Bohemian way of life, in the mid 1970’s Michael met Catriona, who would become his wife, and settled down. They bought a house in Rochester in 1978, acquired a cat and two dogs, and remained there till they moved to Ramsgate in 1987; their three storey house being both home and studio. Michael’s etchings mirror his life, a visual account of places, people, and animals that were important to him, frequently observed with a humorous eye. It was only from 1965 that Michael began to edition his etchings and in later years, for flexibility, he increased the potential edition size, numbering them in some cases as from up to 300; though far fewer impressions were ever printed. For economy, Michael etched on zinc rather than copper, and generally used both sides of the plate.

The signature on the plate printing in reverse. On wove. Offered together with the etched zinc plate, showing another etching, of a Trawler in Harbour, on the reverse.