Bd James Strepar

Today was the latest Belmar Art Walk, and I agreed to do something at the Boatworks.  Ideally I would have a block drawn and ready to cut, but I haven't got quite that far on my latest.  Been a busy few weeks, and I've been in Belmar more days than not, between the mural and the train show.  Last week I met with my brother and his wife, and we selected which James would be subject for the print.

We're going with Bd James Strepar, a 15th century archbishop of Polish descent who lived in a region of Eastern Europe that has been claimed by a number of empires in the centuries since then, and straddles a few current nations.  James was put in charge of this region and worked hard to settle disputes and unify some of the church factions in conflict.  One thing that I noted in my original notes is that he spent a lot of time traveling this Galicia region, often on foot, establishing churches in some largely unexplored areas.  My brother's wife's family includes a portion that comes from that part of the world, which makes this his son's ancestry as well.  I liked the fact that he was a hiker, and I could see using related objects in the image.  In my mind I've been working out ways to include such things, but I haven't had a chance to finalize it on paper yet, though at least I had prepared the wood surface.  However, the deadline was today, so I went with what I could commit to- the feast day of October 21, and the name.

I was stationed in the gallery of the Boatworks for about three hours, and my duties included greeting, answering questions, promoting the print raffle (brought in another $20 or so) in addition to demonstrating my process.  Various people who saw me from the other side of the table took photos, and this one from Rebecca at the BAC is the best one I saw.  So between all that, and that my tools seem like they could use some sharpening, I didn't get very far- just outlining the border, including the date at the top.  In the near future I hope to resolve my story image and get it on the block, and then get some real cutting done.