Loose ends

Last but not least!

This time of the year, I usually tie up loose ends. After the dust settles from various projects and before my mind races on to the next creative mayhem, I tend to figure out what I need to finish. Shamefully, this year's Chinese Lunar New Year print was still patiently waiting to be carved after being drawn on the block in January.

Printmakers, being a generous and somewhat odd bunch, tend to exchange prints for no good reason at all. We do it often just for the pleasure of owning other artist's work. In fact, I will just boldly state that bartering art with other artists is much more satisfying than exchanging art for money. In any case, one of the yearly traditions for the group of happy printmakers in http://barenforum.org is to exchange tiny prints with the Chinese Lunar New Year theme. Every year!

Chinese Lunar New Year

Now for the creative mayhem thing...I rarely ever actually send the critter that the calendar prescribes. My interpretation of the Year of the rooster was a road runner or Desert Rooster; for the Year of the Rabbit I chose to deconstruct my rabbit (poor thing) and the Year of the Snake turned into an old Hopi Snake Dance:

Desert Rooster

Discombobulated Rabbit

Rattlers

Year of the Horse

Last year I took my Mami on a glorious trip to one of my favorite cities, San Francisco California. On the glorious voyage (sorry for the repetition, the Pacific Coast Highway requires the adjective glorious) we stopped at the Monterey Aquarium. One of the highlights for me were the deliberate and gracious sea horses, dancing their sweet dances with each other; gently and unashamedly wrapping themselves in each other, fluid love...just beautiful.

I know that living in the American West I probably should have made some galloping wild mustangs, but that would have been bordering on the normal. My year of the horse print HAD to be about the sea horses, so here it is Fluid Love, a tribute to these amazing creatures.

They were fruitful and multiplied! A day's work

Fluid Love, wood engraving 6 x 4 inches,
for the Year of the Horse print exchange