May 2020

GOOD MORNING

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

As I continue to sort through the detritus and debris of my studio I keep finding bits and pieces of unfinished projects. GOOD MORNING is one of those. Originally planned as part of a four or six part series of collographic prints with slightly different facial expressions and palettes reflecting different periods of the day all of which would be matted and framed as a single item GOOD MORNING is the only one completed. My notes don’t indicate why I didn’t finish the project – I still like the concept, but given everything else going on this is one project that may not get done for a while, if ever. So, I’m posting this to remind myself that the sun will rise tomorrow and it might even herald a good morning. (12” x 12”) (2020) (NFS)

Forsythia & Juniper

FORSYTHIA & JUNIPER is a monotype I did in the spring of 2019 but which pretty much lay dormant until I came across it while cleaning and reorganizing my studio. I would probably call it an abstract representational or perhaps a representational abstract. Either way, it shows a scene from a portion of our property line at a time when almost nothing else was showing color and there was bleakness to the landscape. Like FIRST FLIGHT it is a way of reminding myself that even though currently much about life appears bleak there is also much to be hopeful about. (2020) (18” X 14”) ($150)

Loss

LOSS is a monotype in the “Cognitive Emotions” Series that attempts to express what you feel in that moment when you get sudden, unexpected and devastating news. It tries to capture the brief instant before your emotional and intellectual coping mechanisms kick in and you start going through however many steps it takes to deal with it and move on. (2020) (22” x 12”) ($215)

First Flight

FIRST FLIGHT, reading from left to right, expresses my impression of watching the first flight of a young cardinal, which while initially in doubt (at least to me and I think to the cardinal as well) was ultimately a success becoming a symbol of courage and hope. FIRST FLIGHT is a hand inked and hand pulled hard plate monotype. (2020) (12” x 22”) ($125)

FRONTIER’S EDGE

FRONTIER’S EDGE is an experimental “process” piece, a monotype created by using different colored inks applied at different degrees of dryness and with different brayers. No brushes were used. At a distance there is little to see, but at about 10 feet away a log cabin emerges on the right and then a smaller partially obscured building on the left. If your eyesight and imagination are particularly good you will see a very large reddish bear carrying the cabin off. While the cabin was an intended part of the image, the bear was not, but then I guess that is life on the edge of the frontier. Matted and Framed to 11” x 14”. (2020) (11” x 14”)

John Fansmith

Artist