For years I have wanted to create a heart series, kind, powerful  and with a tad of humor. You know, "what fools (we) mortals be..." The heart. A tricky, ubiquitous image.

Oh boy. Pandemic Creativity.

I found myself poring through old sketch books-lots of sturm und drang notations amongst the drawings-things never change. A long time ago I was supremely comforted by Annie Dillard’s admission in the New York Times: “I hate writing. I love having written.” During this global period of angst, I craved a push from the muse. Nope. I went back to my Japanese calligraphy practice. I couldn’t  bring three paintings to the finish line. (They are still idling on the runway.) So. I took out decades old watercolors and cut them up and made collages, trying to be playful. It didn’t work. I agonized over these, too! I posted art on facebook. People told me I was working a lot. I didn’t feel that way. But that has been my way for more than 40 years.

Who sez humans are the superior species?

Artists from all over the world have initiated these...You add a page, maybe even a two page spread, and then you pass it along. When full, the book is returned to the originator artist. Books are generally small for mailing purposes, the largest page(s) here maybe 5x7"

Chinese calligraphy in the style of Wang Ning...prompting a few B&W linocuts in the manner of many traditions, including those of  Puerto Rico, Provincetown and Baltimore. 

More to come...

An ongoing series...I continue to be charmed by Baltimore’s distinctive row houses connecting neighbors of all kinds-spaces both private and public-seen differently? the same? everyday. I love my Baltimore neighborhood. I have always been enchanted by the extraordinary ordinary. 

Mixed media: linocuts, paint, calligraphy -'harmony', newspaper with war articles