St Benno

Another thing that I dealt with today was starting the block for my next print, which will be part of my Everyman series. I had no immediate demand for any new saint print, but with more than 75 of these under my belt, it's not too difficult to get one going on short notice. Looking at my whole list of saint prints, I had noticed that the fewest came from the months of May and June, mostly because these were the last months I got to originally and I hit the deadline for my MFA show, which had 61 of the first 66 in the series. So I chose a day in June and started reading. For this particular day I found a few workable options, but decided to go with St Benno. His life itself is typical, but I noted a story told about him, when he was upset at the croaking of frogs (which he saw as an insult to his love of fine music) and silenced them by command. After a few minutes thought he decided that animals praise God in their own ways, and took back his order of silence to the frogs.

I like the story, but what clinched it for me was that I had done an image of a toad several years ago for a group folio, an image that I could adapt quickly for a new print. I made a few anatomical changes to make the bumpy toad look more like a smooth skinned frog, but the close up grass and weeds are pretty much directly from the earlier print. However, unlike my toad image, this one will be color, so I'll be making some other changes as I go. If I have any time I may make some adjustments to the sketch before I start cutting it tomorrow at my presentation in Westfield.