9-10

So I spent today making this woodblock reduction print.  It's pretty surprising that I was able to start and finish an edition in one day, and equally surprising that I do a print that has much meaning other than being, well, trees.  It was inspired by a conversation I had a few days ago with my teenage son that was stuck in my head and doing the print was a good opportunity to get it out.  We were having a conversation about the tenth anniversary of 9-11, school related activities and what he remembered about it.

"It desensitized my entire generation.  The America we know isn't invincible."

He went on to say something about growing up in a country where being attacked was a possibility.  I have no idea what that is like.  My generation didn't have such concerns or worries or images of burning towers stuck in our minds when we were in elementary school.  It's not difficult to think of the impact the events of that day had on the lives of thousands of people, but it's hard for me to fathom the effect it had on a generation's view of the country and world they live in, and what it is like to grow up in that world.

This print is titled 9-10.  I think it's about that beautiful, recognizable skyline and about the last day a country full of elementary school children went to bed with a different view of the world they grew up in.

9-10
reduction woodcut, edition of 20, 7" x 3.5"
Akua Kolor on various papers

Receptions and Things

So, I was feeling pretty good about being the featured artist at this charming new cafe, Amicis. There's not all that much wall space and I have plenty of prints and framed prints and empty frames, and I have a week to decide what will go. I was feeling pretty good about it until I made this postcard this morning an sent out invites to a ton of people and started getting back responses.

Seeing the invitation on the internet has started one of those spiraling-out-of-control feelings that I need new prints. My head is filling up with thoughts of a couple new monotypes and reprinting a few blocks in different colors. I need to stop thinking and be happy with what I have, but as much as I try and talk myself out of it, I know I won't be sleeping much this week.

Big Trees

So, this is part of a big block I spent a few weeks carving at the end of 2010 and beginning of 2011. It was slow going at times because of the detail, but I was really enjoying this 24" x 20" piece of Shina plywood so I tried not to keep track of the time spent carving it. I'm realizing that I don't have much to say about it except that I still haven't figured out exactly how it looks best printed. I've tried a few on monotype-ish blue background as well as a couple on a burnt sienna background. And there's something about the tree in the upper right hand corner I don't like, so that may change before I print again.

Anyway, one of them won an Award of Excellence at the annual Dayton Area Works on Paper. And there was this article in the Dayton Daily News where I gave some odd sounding quote about why I print trees. If you do read it, I didn't say a word about the condition of my hands after the carving, but I did show my calluses to a couple of people. Hell, I was proud of them....they made carving NOT hurt! So there's a paragraph about hurting my fingers and suffering for art and that kind of thing, which taught me that when you are an award winning artist you need to watch what you say about your art. (sarcasm)

Here it is.

And the award winning version where I left out the awkward branches.