I have not been near a printing press for several years now, having sold my small home press and dropped my membership in the local printmakers’ guild, Corvidae Press. But I have a few incomplete prints I have saved to work on, including this edition of a polylitho “drawing”. These are single pass, single ink images that I hand color in various different ways. The result being several unique artworks based on one print edition, most being colored pencil on a polylitho print. I did use some watercolor and pen on a few prints.

The top row is the very latest one, with soft pastel coloring completed today, followed by two foiled versions of the same colored print.
The lower row shows the same print before much of the color was added, followed by a digitally foiled version. The last image is a digital foil of another variant, also colored, but not shown here in the “flesh” original.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

An entertaining article, spun from a series of written interview questions, identifies me as a macabre artist! I find I rather like the term, at least at the moment. Certainly some of my favorite artworks do border on the macabre, and maybe some people find them so. Of course I have created any number of pieces that do not fit that description at all. So am I a macabre artist?

You can find the article on a site named Obsessed with Art, which features various artists willing to respond to their interview questions. I am very pleased to be featured, and I enjoyed reading this article. Of course I immediately wanted to edit and improve my own responses to their questions, but it is late for that now! I am left with is this question: am I a macabre artist?

Of course I want to argue the point! For one thing, I am naturally argumentative! And for another, I have read various definitions of “macabre”. Here is the Merriam Webster definition, with three meanings for this adjective:

I may not be the best judge of my own work. When I look at the pieces I choose to display at home, I see variety. I don’t necessarily find a recognizable style, only the works that I recognize as my own. But I do see themes that recur, some over and over through many years: bones, distortion, mystery, fantasy, and perhaps a sense that something is not quite right. And yes, death is a recurring theme in my art. But does that make my work macabre? Yes and no. Other themes that recur include family, birds, trees, and beauty in nature.

Certainly in the narrower sense of the first Merriam Webster meaning, the answer can be “yes”.

• 

• 

• 

• 

Work about Life

However in the second and third meanings that are the focus of this statement in Wikipedia, I would answer with a resounding “no!”. My work is not obsessed with death, does not focus on the gruesome, and plenty of it is about life!

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

In works of art, the adjective macabre means “having the quality of having a grim or ghastly atmosphere”. The macabre works to emphasize the details and symbols of death. The term also refers to works particularly gruesome in nature.

Wikipedia

I do not think that the term “macabre” is an adequate description of me as an artist, but I can certainly enjoy this view of me and my work! And I embrace the term based on the narrow definition that death is a subject in some quantity of my work. A lot more of my work than I realized can be thought to reference death. For one thing, angels do make a lot of appearances. Although I don’t think of my angels as about death: for me, angels are symbols or personifications of protection, defense, assistance, or love.

So as a description, the term “macabre artist” is certainly incomplete.

So again I ask you the question: am I a macabre artist?

Take a look at this short article at Obsessed with Art; it makes for fun reading. But then look at my online gallery, and decide for yourself just how macabre my work is!

My experiment with printing from an engraved found metal “plate” resulted in two very light “ghost” prints. My printing plate is 3/4″ thick and is 22″ x 30″, so I could not print on my small home press. Instead I hand rubbed and rolled to my thick soft paper.

The result was very uneven on the two prints I made. I had the full image, but both very dull and unfinished in appearance. I worked on them both, then set one aside still incomplete. I have done more work on this now, and I have more color on a ghost print of the dancer who continues to appears in my art periodically.

• 

• 

Maybe this is the eternal dancer who creates the world and the tree of life. Or maybe this is just a naked soul who dances for joy. The fantastic tree full of many colors and patterns reflects the many moods and many variations in our lives.

My Three Angels are mounted now, and ready to go! My clear resin Three Angels / Purple Mountains is complete, and in search of a new long term home!

This artwork will look best in a room with multiple lights sources and windows. The background and the figures seem to come to life when the light is right, and I love the variation a different light angle and intensity can bring to this piece.

• 

• 

The resin relief cast is “pegged” to the wooden panel at the four corners, using clear acrylic rod and epoxy super glue. The panel edges are painted and I will add D-rings & picture wire for hanging later today. This mixed media piece has been a bit complicated to assemble, but now it is satisfactorily complete!

And now that my Three Angels / Purple Mountains is complete, I would really like to sell it. However I have not been able to even begin to set a price. Maybe after I recover from all the hours of work!

The tiny LED rice lights are just tucked in between the resin cast & the back. The tiny switch and battery “box” is installed into a pocket behind. These are pretty discreet when turned off, but removing them is easy if they not wanted. However care must be taken not to scratch the surface of the paper background if they are to be re-inserted!