Freedom!

        I’ve been printing up a storm recently, and everything was going smoothly until we actually had a beautiful, perfect day after two weeks of hideously muggy, humid weather.  And suddenly my printing was a disaster.  I’ve always been aware that when I teach classes in highly air conditioned schools or conference rooms, it’s difficult to keep the ink from drying out too quickly, but I had never before seen the effect so clearly when printing at home.  Luckily for my printing spree (although unfortunately for the rest of life) the next day it rained all day and I was able to redo my printing efforts with better results.  In future I may have to make a point of checking the humidity in the weather forecast when planning when to undertake major printing efforts.

        In any event, here’s one of the pieces I printed.  It’s just a fun little thing, nothing too ambitious because I began it during my class last week and was working on it only intermittently when no students needed assistance.  It’s a wyvern, which is a two-legged, winged dragon.  (Introductory definition here.)  As usual when doing mythical creatures, I wanted to show my wyvern a little differently from how they’re usually seen, and this time I took that idea rather literally.  Wyverns are common in heraldry, but my wyvern is too curious to stay confined to a coat of arms.  He wants to get out and stretch his wings, see the world, seek his fortune, and find adventure.  I just hope he doesn’t cause too much trouble along the way!

[Picture: Freedom, rubber block print by AEGN, 2017.]