I cut the image in a vinyl block. The print below is on gold handmade paper but most of the others I printed were in black on white paper.
My second card is more cheerful and represents a hopeful star in a hopeless world.
I drew it on a graphic tablet using ArtRage software then printed a few on fine art digital paper.
I wish you all a serene and hopeful holiday, however you celebrate or escape from it, and may the New Year bring us, and the whole world, all the joy and peace we deserve.
Thank you for stopping by over here, my friends, you are always welcome and always appreciated.
16 comments:
I found both these pictures intriguing, but reacted very differently to them. I am not turned on in any way by mother/child art in any form. I find it has become too sentimentalised, and coming from my childhood background, unacceptable. BUT! There is something in your first picture, some appeal that reaches far beyond the mundane that sweeps aside my reservations about mother/child stuff. A beautifully executed piece of work.
Your second picture did not rouse feelings of joy and happiness; rather the reverse. It seemed to hint at all that I find shallow and superfluous, material-oriented about Christmas. When seen next to your first picture, the contrast is particularly marked.
Somehow, I get the feeling that this post has awakened in me that which true art is supposed to awaken. For that I thank you. May I wish you all that you need, and would like, at this season and beyond, as well as some extra little pleasant surprises.
Dear Tom, I'm very moved that the first image deeply resonated with you. I too am turned off by the abundant sentimental mother-child pictures and it's only the severe, other-wordly versions found in ancient ikons that speak to me in some way.
As for my second card,I certainly didn't intend anything material-oriented Christmasy junk - it was meant as a more abstract sense of hopefulness, using the familiar symbol of a star guiding the Wise Men to Bethlehem.
Dear Natalie, I well understand your intent in the second card, but having been filtered through my consciousness, I interpreted it differently. For me, it was the stark contrast between what the two images triggered in me (independent of your intent) that I found most intriguing.
Natalie, I love both your cards, so different as they are. As a printmaker i am naturally most drawn to the first one - what lovely paper.
Thank you for the seasonal messages. I wish you all the best of this season, and thanks for your friendship.
Marja-Leena, thanks, and very best wishes to you and your family for the holidays and may 2015 be a really good year for you, in every way.
Both cards are wonderful.
Happy solstice,Natalie.
Thanks Bruce and the same good wishes to you and yours.
I'm sending a hearty Prost! your way and I thank your for making my world more beautiful with your art. As the Germans say ... happy festive days and a good slide into the new year!
Rouchswalwe (you would laugh to hear the pronunciation in my head of your name...pseudonym?) many thanks and a bubbly Prost! to you too.
Seasonal greetings, and I hope that 2015 brings you joy.
Hehehe ... it is an imposing conglomeration of consonants. The first 'ou' sounds like the 'ou' in ouch. The 'ch' as in the Scottish loch. Then remember to say the 's' as 'sh' and the 'w' as a v and the final 'e' as eh. Rouch-schval-veh. It's my childhood nickname meaning "Smokey Swallow" because I was always flitting about and came back home muddy and dirty.
Olga, it's very nice to see you here. Thank you and reciprocal wishes to you.
Rouchchswalwe, I'll practice inwardly before I dare to say your name aloud. But Smokey Swallow I can manage and it's a lovely nickname.
Merry Christmas. Peace and love to you, Natalie.
Copeland, thank you and the same to you.
Given the choice I'd prefer rhinomath - especially after the Guardian devoted a double-page spread of two of these endearing creatures grazing on a pile of sprouts which had been discarded by our wasteful society. More sprouts were needed, said the creatures' carer, so here's a further charity you may add to your list of direct debits.
You were right to be sombre and it takes courage to do so. Unrelieved happiness can often be seen as inward-looking. Even a lack of sensitivity. Whenever the face of Baby P appears on my telly screen I find myself wanting to turn away - it is so hard to look him in the face and yet I must.
Slightly darker greetings.
More sprouts for the rhinos, I'll drink to that. Thanks for this gem of offbeat news, Robbie, and best wishes for 2015 to you and yours.
Yes, jolliness seems cruel in a season that is so sad and so painful for so many all over the world.
Post a Comment