Life in Other Media

I love woodcut and expect it to be my main medium for some time to come.  However, sometimes people pull me into other areas.  For example, this week one of my main activities has been my contribution to a music video.  I'm not actually making the video, which is probably for the best. My part is making a piece of artwork (surprise- it's a woodcut) that will be used as part of the video.  I finished cutting and printing the block a few days ago.  That first day I brought the practice proof home in the back of my car, and left the final one in my Studio rack to dry.  Yesterday I dropped by the Studio just long enough to pick up the good proof and put that in the back of my car.  Meanwhile, I brought the practice proof that had been in my car into my apartment.  (the ink seemed pretty dry)  The practice one is only half printed (the point at which it shifted on the block and was done), but it will work for allowing me to test potential colors. Spent part of today researching possible colors to use.  Have all my watercolor stuff at home right now, so I may as well do it there. Looked at a lot of photos on the internet, seeing what various objects look like- bottles, shells, sand, etc.  I don't expect that I will use full strength intense colors for this piece, but will keep it subtle, so the words are the focus.

Then late last night I got an email from my friend Jenny which related to another one of my side projects.  She was very interested in the potential to turn some of my woodcuts into jigsaw puzzles, which have grown in popularity during the enforced isolation of this pandemic.  I had sent her some additional large format photos and asked her to get back to me when she learned more.  Hadn't heard from her in more than a week, which was fine because I was busy with the video project. Turns out that during that time, she and her husband were busy working on their vacation rental home.   (maybe such things have just opened up again, or maybe they are just getting ready for the 4th) Where we left off was she was planning to have something made, and that got done. The mail included a photo of the box of the first puzzle, my History of Art woodcut.  The box looked good, and although they brought it with them to Maryland, they hadn't tried doing it yet.  May be for the best- if they lost a piece while moving around, I don't know if they could replace it.  But I assume they will start it soon, and then let me know how it worked as a puzzle. And what these things would cost to make.  Once we know that, we can look into the possibility of producing and selling them. One problem she is having right now is opening the photo files, which she says may be the fault of her laptop. Out of curiosity, I took those same photo files (still on my computer), and emailed them to one of my other mailboxes.  It all worked fine.