Artwork description:

Before art school and learning the language to verbally identify compositional devices such as , fore ground, middle, and back, I felt and sensed it first in the local movie theater. On Saturday I would take 35 cents from my allowance for a ticket and a small bag of popcorn. I went along with a band of boys. The girls were in their usual covey, closely grouped, knowing as soon as the show started they would be bombarded by a barrage of popcorn. As the light slowly dimmed the curtain would squeakily opened to a roar of young voices. It was the introduction reel, a Bugs Bunny cartoon followed by a Flash Gordon Serial. By this time all were seated, the light receded into total darkness, then the main feature would start, in this case Snow White, with the classical Disney opening scene.

The linocut Rising Woods came while resting near my campsite. I often look behind from where I came to see what might have passed me by. Looking through the view finder, and slowly moving to my right, I sensed the same feelings and visual emotion of spacial divisions, I once encountered in the movie theater. The print is classical in its design. Starting with the strong darks on the right leading into the bright sun filled middle then folding and lifting up from the forrest floor. There is a sense of joy in the play of mid light mingling with the background trees and undergrowth. The eye is quickly sent on a diagonal like the formidable Bishop, moving speedily to the safety of what might be small candles near the forest floor.
I hope this early experience of wonder and joy is some thing we all can identify and relate to even though our world is changing at the speed of a projectors light.

Materials used:

Daniel Smith Traditional Black Relief Ink on Zerkall Book Smooth Cream over Somerset Satin White 250gm