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…
(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.
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…
©2016 what sandra thinks
what sandra thinks 