art: the prints. #1

Posted on 8 December 2016 by what sandra thinks

art | what sandra thinks

I did the drawing thing… sketching and all of that. I’ve painted [god, I hate painting]. Even some pottery and a [very] brief affair with sculpting. But something about taking a sharp carving tool and being at near-constant risk of major blood loss appealed to me. It’s okay… if you warm the linoleum a bit, it’s much easier to avoid injury.

I carved and printed almost the entire time I was away at school. Unfortunately, it’s not something I can do today without access to a really good press. And to acquire one, I’d need a lot of money and a lot of space. So that’s not going to happen. There are other methods… maybe someday I will try one.

When I graduated [which my daughter thinks was before television existed – so very wrong], the career paths presented to me were never going to happen. Everyone told me that with an art degree, basically, you can teach or become a famous artist. And that’s pretty much it. Teach? Oh, hell no. Become famous? Clearly that didn’t happen.

Today, I can see a few directions that may have worked for me back then… but I never knew what I wanted to do… where to go… so nothing happened. I listened to those people – the ones who said teaching or fame were my only choices – instead of trying my own path [even though I didn’t know what that was].

Way too much information. Moving on…

This print was the first I ever made. It was a bit of a joke with my professor. I’d just spent a semester in his drawing class. We had an ongoing assignment to draw 50 hands and 50 feet during the semester. All different, of course. I couldn’t resist…

art by what sandra thinks

(Obviously, it did not actually say “what sandra thinks” at the bottom. That’d be weird, wouldn’t it?)

It is customary, according to my professor, to note on the print the edition number, the title, the artist’s name, and the year. I remember that the hand was my first. I couldn’t possibly recall the order of creation of the rest by only the year. My memory just isn’t that good. This next one was done the year after the hand, so it could have been anywhere from 4 to 15 months later.

art by what sandra thinks

If or when I post more of my work, you will be astonished (ha) that this one is merely the first of several cemetery prints.

It was fun looking through that portfolio. I found a few non-art things, too. Sigh. I want to be back in college…

p_s-full-div

©2016 what sandra thinks

About what sandra thinks

Sandra is a writer, sometimes blogger, poet, artist, emotional disaster. She thinks far too much and sleeps far too little. Sandra lives in the Northeastern U.S. but dreams of an oceanfront home in Italy, but she would settle for a non-oceanfront home in Italy. She loves books, brutal honesty, coffee, and the color black. She hates insincerity, beer, whipped cream, and facebook. And she is uncomfortable talking about herself in the third person.
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43 Responses to art: the prints. #1

  1. dcp65 says:
    9 December 2016 at 2:35 am

    Love this
    You’re good !!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  2. Miriam says:
    9 December 2016 at 4:47 am

    OMG Sandra, you are so talented. Seriously, these are good.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  3. Kay says:
    9 December 2016 at 8:08 am

    Those are fantastic!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  4. sonofabeach96 says:
    9 December 2016 at 8:11 am

    Pretty cool. I didn’t realize you were a Fine Arts major. My wife’s first degree was Fine Arts. She liked printing as well, but her love was painting and sketching. Did you ever consider graphic design as a career?

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • what sandra thinks says:
      9 December 2016 at 8:55 am

      Sure. I considered it. WAY after I graduated. It wasn’t really a “thing”. I had no guidance whatsoever… here’s your degree… have a nice life. All I ever got was a look of pity and “well, you could always teach…” By the time I thought of graphic design as a career, it was all computer graphics. I never had that in school and no one would hire me for anything… couldn’t afford to go back to school… still can’t… no training, no experience, no job. I wish it was as easy as just saying, “hey, this is what I want to do,” and boom… I can get a job doing it. Nope.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  5. Meg Sorick says:
    9 December 2016 at 9:02 am

    I am SO glad you found these! I love the cemetery print.Printing wasn’t something I ever had access to in art class. The closest thing was carving on leather for jewelry and belts. I can’t wait to see more!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  6. gigglingfattie says:
    9 December 2016 at 9:22 am

    Ooo wow I love them! You are super talented. I tried my hand at a crayon drawing of a giant this week. It ended with 3 out of 3 children laughing so hard that everyone else in the YMCA lobby was giving us the “gah what is happening over there” look….

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  7. VictoryInTrouble says:
    9 December 2016 at 10:05 am

    I didn’t even realize that was a cemetery! That’s pretty cool. I like the shadow and light aspect of it. I was looking at that instead of the headstone. You should post more. 😊

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  8. mandibelle16 says:
    10 December 2016 at 12:05 am

    You’re prints are very good. I remember doing some of that in high school, I enjoyed it very much. Though, I cut myself on the hand pretty badly with one of the carving tools. Gouged I think is a better word. How nice you got to do a fin arts degree. That sounds very fun actually. I considered art, had the portfolio ready but ended up doing English and History more for practicalities sake. You could always teach classes anywhere you know. So many people just want to learn how to draw basically and I think thecprint making process people would find fascinating. Very neat!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  9. ladieswholunchreviews says:
    10 December 2016 at 10:02 am

    Those are fabulous prints. I did have some of that in art class in high school, but not any talent, sadly! You obviously do. There have to be free lance graphic artists and book illustrators, right?

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • what sandra thinks says:
      10 December 2016 at 10:29 am

      Thank you! I’ve seen some stuff like that but they want experience I don’t have unfortunately… Never had a job doing anything like this… and my stuff isn’t computer generated which is all they seem to want. I have no doubt I could learn the software easily… if I could afford to get it!! But the experience thing is a killer…

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  10. Lennon Carlyle says:
    10 December 2016 at 11:45 am

    You’ve heard it before but you are beyond good. You’re super talented. Love these!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  11. magarisa says:
    10 December 2016 at 7:16 pm

    Very nice prints! I especially like the cemetery one.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

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