Animal Spirits

Because I am a coordinator at the Belmar Arts Council, as well as an active member, I usually submit work for all the shows that I have something suitable for.  With enough warning, sometimes I can even make something special for the occasion.  The current show in Belmar is a nature themed photo show, so I skipped that.  Next up is one called Animal Spirits.  Pretty simple concept- art inspired by animals, any medium.  It's not a focus of my work, but animals have popped up from time to time. For example, early this year I had St Benno in a show there, with the image being a frog, and the back story being related to the idea of animal spirituality.  It would be perfect for this show if I hadn't shown it there already.  Animals appear in at least a few of the older ones, and if I don't come up with anything better, I can put one of those in a frame and be done with it.

My first print series after returning to New Jersey from grad school had lots of animals.  (done so long ago that I don't have any digital images of it to post here)  It was a 24 print hand colored series called Birds and Seeds, with each print containing a reference to both birds and seeds.  Some are fairly literal (birds on telephone wires outside a feed store, a biblical passage about birds eating recently sown seed), some are built around food (turkey and stuffing, chicken noodle soup), while some are a little more obscure (sheet music that musicians might recognize as "Turkey in the Straw", a vintage Ford Thunderbird driving past a cornfield).  Several years ago one of them (birds in the branches of a tree) was used for the BAC calendar, but I don't think I've shown any others there.  One of the most popular in the series is based on an actual 50 year old whiskey ad from Life magazine, where the illustration was a couple of hunters in the weeds around a pond, getting ready to shoot some ducks flying overhead.  I reinforced the concept by changing the bottle in the ad to Wild Turkey brand (product derived from seeds, bird on the label).  That one would work really well- the bourbon would literally be an "animal" spirit.  On the other hand, a show that is a benefit for the local Humane Society might not be the best place for a hunting image.

On my way to the Studio today I stopped at a former employer to drop off a few things for staff there, including an announcement for this animal show for those who may want to enter.  While I was there I was reminded of another possibility.

A couple of years ago I participated in the For Love Not Money collaborative postcard project.  Stumped at first as to what to create to add to an image of a checkerboard and some tea bags, a co-worker suggested animals on the floor.  I changed her suggested dogs to cats, but it was the same concept.  The image above is a print of the block that I carved, and you can see here how the image was added to my collaborator's card.  To thank the person who gave me the idea, I used a little watercolor and the block print to make her the piece seen below, which I saw hanging on her bulletin board today.  Using this block as a starting point for a new piece is a possibility.

From there I went to the Studio.  Couldn't find the cats block, but I figured there was a good chance I had taken it home to show in some demonstration and hoped to find it there later.  Meanwhile I cut myself a small wood panel, about 8" x 11", on the chance that I decide to create something from scratch over the next few days.  Intake is a week from Friday/Saturday, so whatever I do has to be printed by the end of this week to be ready to frame in time for the show.