The fat/thin paradox...

Sparse Tree   linoleum print Christmas card

I am an amateur print-maker. In other words, I am no Joan Colbert. But I have done linoleum cut holiday cards a number of times. It is refreshing to work in a different way and to experience different creative problems. Several years ago, I decided to challenge, for myself, the notion of a beautiful Christmas tree. Some folks insist on finding the "perfect" shaped tree every year. Some love tall.....and the taller, the better. Some prefer a certain kind of pine, exclusive, always the most expensive. We are what we decorate? All in all, the notion of bounty rules in the Christmas tree realm. Full has become more beautiful....that is, unless we're talking about the female figure. Well nourished. Well fed. Fewer gaps. Straighter.The kind we like to see on happy Christmas cards. The year of this card, we had a Charlie Brown tree.....the sketch of it turned into a card the following year. Mixing the dark green color was problematic for me, as each batch of mixed paint yielded quiet a different color. My studio is brightly lit, so those that seemed perfect became almost blackish in a more dimly lit surround. Oh well. The bulbs were printed with the tip of an eraser. Several years hence, I realize that there is just too much white space.....perhaps the Charlie Brown tree could have had more branches. I do, however, love the fact that I challenged this notion. I also like the diagonal cuts in the border. Sometimes I am satisfied with a few good passages. I am easily amused.

What appears simple....................

What Appears Simple   watercolor/mixed   27.5 x 21

Some lessons must be learned again and again....especially for me. The notion of "simple" is a case in point. I am not sure there is really such a thing. Consider those smooth 3-point baskets by LeBron James. And Michael Jackson's sleight-of-foot dance moves. Reports emerge of his endless hours practicing in the studio. To be really really good at something requires more than talent.....we must add in desire and lots and lots of practice. Drawing and painting follow suit. Those whose hands make amazing marks and strokes make them continually.....the ease and comfort with the tools become part of who they are. In our spring watercolor class, we tackled the painting of a tricycle....simple, right? NOT. Those little machines are complex. Mine started as a simple painting which evolved into a mixed media work. I printed rectangles into the background, reminiscent of the cement block garage of my childhood. The grass in front was carved from linoleum and printed on. Graphite marks were added throughout. I like the smudging, the unsure lines and the power lines as well. Time has a way of simplifying the complex. Would a unicycle be any simpler? I don't think so.

Graphic Grass

Grass Border...linoleum block print

I am working on a large mixed media painting of a tricycle and wanted to have some simple graphic-looking grass at the bottom. Painting it on resulted in visual confusion. So I carved a small linoleum block to print it on. The marks were made with a 5.0 calligraphy marker that I twisted as I moved upwards from bottom to top, thus making the marks gradually thinner. I found that the negative spaces were as important as the marks themselves here. I wanted the spaces to be intriguing and playful as well. Painting is almost too direct at times.....i.e. one stroke is almost too bold, too important, too direct. Sometimes the printing medium is what I crave.....that secondary application of pigment that doesn't quite cover everything, leaving a bit of background peeking through. Pure bliss. And, I might add, a fun foray into something different.