Portland, Maine, United States
May 2023
Entitled “Dandelion Nerve”, this month’s print is a quick version of a block print: A drawing scratched into foam with a pen and printed with a stamp pad. It is inspired by the Dandelion. Which is A Hearty but sensitive Plant: all it takes is a glimpse of summer warmth and overnight it change to a puff of seeds ready to follow the wind.
Song Inspiration “Mary” by Big Thief
Accompanying Written Piece
“I Swim but the Sea is Still Cold”
I sleep the first dreamless sleep of summer.
I wake from the darkness,
bird song on my lips.
The loss of winter
it piles on my chest like blankets.
I remember who I used to be
and touch the coming light,
under the curtains
Gray against glass,
pine sils against palms.
I dream once the sun has risen
that my mother sleeps in the bed upstairs.
The wind against the walls is new again
each sound prickling but familiar,
like the steps in a dance.
Beams and bones,
I forget I am young
I forget I am Grown
here I am nothing but the wind
and weeds unmown.
Hold on to the quiet for it is hard to preserve.
There is a fragility to this wildness
a Dandelion Nerve.
About the process
I drew my image on tracing paper. I placed it atop a piece of craft foam and then I retraced
the image pressing through the tracing paper to leave an impression. Afterwards, I removed the tracing paper and etched the lines deeper. Once done I used a stamp pad to ink the foam and a bit of tracing paper to blend the color. Then I printed the image burnishing it with my hands.
I created an envelope to protect the print with the poem on the back and a letter on the front.
See a video of the process here on Instagram!
