Self-Portraits

During last year's FallArtTour,
I lined these four up in one of my flat file drawers...

Self-Portraits and PokeyMan

liked them too much to break up...and closed the drawer.

Yesterday I brought them into the house...
I'll get them hinged onto something archival,
and I'm willing to bet Tony will frame them.

Perserverance and the WoodBlock Print

It was a couple years ago, right after I attended a Japanese Printmaking "bootcamp"
that Gravity finally got the better of the architecture which carries me about....
rudely interrupting an intense arting wave I was riding.

A year later, a tendon traffic jam forced the Right hand to retire....
not expected to be re-activated until this month...

I won't accept NO arting....
so the Left was drafted..

Early this year I started pushing things...
between the exercises for my back...
and those for my wrist...
I opened my notes,
and began "bootcamp" again...
spending the good part of this year
working on that tricky balance between water, paper, rice paste and color....

I'm floored by what I'm looking at...

color quality that can only be achieved by woodblocks printing watercolor on paper.

There's no way to repair a bad print....
I've tried...

there 's no short-cut to a good print,
except by printing...printing...printing...printing...printing...printing...printing....printing....

OK...I can cut wood....
and yeh, I could get a print from that wood....
but, it was a so-what result....
I wanted more....
I wanted thrill and carbonation I know I get from arting....
I know it's there...it has to be...
or this process could not have lasted all these years.
The first time I got it right...
that first time I knew I was printing well enough...consistantly...
to maybe get a head nod from my instructor of 2 years ago....
..HA!....I was carbonated.
Now...I'm hooked....
this whole process is so intensely addictive....for me...

It's probably the most difficult thing I've ever attempted...

it will be years before I can say I'm good at this.....
but, it's the challenge...
...I love the challenge....

Some FallArtTour visitors might think I've changed directions a bit....
it's only me picking up where I left off two years ago....
when LittleEve was next....

well....
LittleEve needs one more color....
one more printing...
and then I move on to the next one.