D is for Dreams

        (My A to Z Blog Challenge theme this year is Bittersweetness & Light, my new collection of hope-filled, joy-inducing fantasy and sci fi short stories, poems, and art.  I’ll be sharing lots of excerpts, and I’ll also be sharing some of the background on why we urgently need joyful stories.  There will be lots of other bloggers working their way through the alphabet this year, too, and you can find out what themes they’ve got planned at the Theme Reveal List.)

        “Dreams” is another of the poems in the book.  But rather than share the whole thing, today I’m sharing the illustration that goes with it.  This one isn’t a block print.  In fact, it’s a doodle.  The original doodle was made nearly 30 years ago, during a faculty meeting.  I found it so satisfying that I kept it in my notebook all these years.  It seemed like an appropriate place to begin when illustrating a dream world, because what are dreams, after all, but the doodlings of the subconscious mind?  To complete the illustration for my book, I added the doe, blue butterflies, fish, and quail, which are characters in the poem.  The quail and butterflies are adapted from independent block prints, which I scanned and added to the image digitally, and I drew in the doe and fish.

        In case you’re hoping for a Word of the Month on this last post of March, how about doodle?  The definition “draw aimlessly” appeared in 1935, and seems to have drawn from a variety of influences.  Doodle could be a verb meaning “to fritter time,” possibly associated with dawdle, and a doodle could also be a person: in the mid 17th century “a simpleton,” and in the mid 18th century “an idler.”  (That definition can be seen in “Yankee Doodle Dandy.”)  Doodling may be a way to fritter away time idly, but humans have done it for millenia, and nowadays studies suggest that it’s an excellent way to increase memory, alleviate stress, and regulate the brain.  And of course, now a doodle can also be a poodle crossbreed - which may also be good for alleviating stress!

        D is also for Delight, which is what I hope this book will bring you.  The ability to take delight in things is a muscle that sometimes atrophies as people grow up and become too “cool” or too “busy” to exercise it.  If you want to know what delights me, well, of course a lot of it is in this blog.  But you could also check out my Instagram, in which I post one picture each day of something that delights me, in the hope that it might delight others, too.

        Marketing Moral: Not ready to buy my book?  How about going to your local library and putting in a request for them to buy it for their collection.  You’ll get to read it for free (eventually… It can take a long time!) and better yet, you’ll be helping to make it available for others, as well.

        Proper Moral: Hang onto your dreams.  Even when the world doesn’t live up to our high ideals, it’s still important to have dreams to point us in the direction we want to go.

        Do you like to doodle?  Or do you have something else to keep your hands occupied or your mind regulated during long meetings?  Have you ever doodled something that surprised and delighted you?

[Picture: Dreams, illustration by AEGNydam from Bittersweetness & Light, 2025 (See NydamPrints.com).]

C is for Cooperation

        (My A to Z Blog Challenge theme this year is Bittersweetness & Light, my new collection of hope-filled, joy-inducing fantasy and sci fi short stories, poems, and art.  I’ll be sharing lots of fun excerpts, and I’ll also be sharing some of the background on why we urgently need joyful stories.  (You can find out all about the April A to Z Blog Challenge here.  I’ve got a head start, but I’ll end up at the finish line with everyone else, I promise.  In the meantime, you can see the themes other bloggers will be writing about here.))

        Cooperation is one of my favorite themes.  I love stories in which problems are solved not by some lone hero, but by characters coming together to share their skills and perspectives and help each other reach solutions together.  I’ve certainly got a few of those stories in my book, but today I’m sharing one of the block prints.  This one is called “All in This Together.”  I made it during the COVID lockdown in 2020, but of course we always seem to need the reminder that what hurts one hurts all, and what helps one helps all.

        Another C word I could write about is Cynicism, which is another epidemic that’s keeping us locked down.  Cynics don’t think other people can be trusted, and thus lose out on all the benefits of cooperation.  The more dire things seem, the more important it is to be consciously skeptical of your cynicism, which actually isn’t as smart or as worldly-wise as you think it is.  It actually isn’t keeping you safe or getting you ahead.  (Interested in the science that proves this?  Check out Hope for Cynics by Jamil Zaki, 2024.)  The narrative of catastrophe is not the whole story.  Goodness really is out there all around, so get out and find it — and every time you find some, be sure to share it.  After all, we’re all in this together.

        Marketing Moral: Recommend my book to everyone you know who might like it.  Whenever you find any story, or poem, or art that brings you joy, spread the word!  Tell all your friends.  In fact, tell all your enemies, too, since they probably need a message of joy and love at least as much as you do.  (And nothing helps small-time/indie authors and artists more than word of mouth.)

        Proper Moral: Many hands make light work.  Cooperation is actually a basic human need, essential for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  Now more than ever we need to make sure we look out for one another - and not just our closest buddies, either.  Plus, a rising tide raises all ships.

        Do you find it difficult to ask for help?  Many of us want to be self-sufficient, and hate to be a bother…  But humans actually love to help and be helped.  If you could use a little assistance from your fellow humans, go ahead and ask!

[Picture: All in This Together, rubber block print by AEGNydam, 2020 (Image from Bittersweetness & Light, but originals are still available at NydamPrints.com).]

B is for Broken by Beauty

        (My A to Z Blog Challenge theme this year is Bittersweetness & Light, my new collection of hope-filled, joy-inducing short stories, poems, and art.)

        “Broken by Beauty” is one of the poems in the book, and today I’ll simply post the entire thing.

     It is possible

On a night of snow

When porch lights make yellow diamonds

Of fat cold flakes spangling the twigs,

Spangling the luminous blue silence,

To be broken by beauty.

     To be broken open

Like an alabaster egg in April,

Hatching forth to giggling white blossoms

Scenting every incredulous bird-song breath

Of air turned giddy with life;

Hatching like front doors 

Scattering their people to the sidewalks.

     It is possible

On a red-gold afternoon

When every maple impersonates chrysanthemums,

Flinging implausible color to the piercing freshness of the sky,

And the festive crinkle of fallen applause to those who drag their feet,

To be broken by beauty.

     To be broken open

Like a dry crack in crumbling earth

Unfolding to fertile black beneath an impetuous rain,

Exhaling mud-scented breath to grateful leaves

That dance like sparkling children in the sprinkler;

Unfolding like frail smiles

Fluttering along the check-out line.

     It is all possible.

        Some other B words that have to do with my project are of course the Book itself, Bittersweetness & Light, the Kickstarter Backers whose support made it possible, and the Bad News that skews our perception of the world.  This poem is a reminder that even though bad news grabs all our attention (in part because we’re actually hard-wired to pay more attention to it), it really is only one part of what’s going on in the world.

        Marketing Moral: Are you boycotting Amazon?  Indie bookstores are unlikely to stock a little-known book like this, but they will usually special-order it for you if you ask.  (Bittersweetness & Light is also at Barnes & Noble if you find them less offensive, or available directly from me if you don’t mind paying for shipping.)

        Proper Moral:  It is all possible.  Don’t ever let that Bad News convince you to give up on the Good stuff.

        How much time do you spend doom-scrolling because you want to be a conscientious, informed citizen of the world?  Have you ever considered spending an equal amount of time being conscientiously informed about positive things?

[Picture: Snowflakes, rubber block prints, and Leaves, digital by AEGNydam from Bittersweetness & Light, 2025 (See NydamPrints.com).]

A is for Arches

         (My A to Z Blog Challenge theme this year is Bittersweetness & Light, my new collection of hope-filled, joy-inducing fantasy and sci fi short stories, poems, and art.  I’ll be sharing lots of excerpts of art, stories, and poetry, and I’ll also be sharing some of the background on why we urgently need joyful stories.  If you like strange creatures, magical worlds, and being reminded of the good to be found in this world, come along with me.)

        These arches are a mixed media illustration: a collage of papers which had been printed using a collagraph and a gelli plate.  To give a little printmaking background, a collagraph is a printing plate built as a collage (which you can read about in this prior post).  If you press a collagraph plate onto a gelli plate, it removes ink on the raised areas, thus making a sort of reverse, which can then be printed onto paper.  In this case, the paper was pages from an old dictionary.  (You can read about a previous gelli plate experiment of mine here.)

        This illustration appears in my book with a poem called “Love Song in a House of Words.”

    Thin, twining words that thrust their roots between emotion’s masonry,

    Dull, brazen words that glitter like a gong,

    Pebbles of sound that sink at once but leave their spreading rings,

    Deep, dusky words whose rings are blown of smoke,

 

    Take these to build your house, and furnish it with words…

        If it weren’t for the tyranny of the alphabet in the A to Z Challenge, I wouldn’t have started here, since this is neither a typical relief block print like most of my others, nor a particularly representative poem.  In terms of places to begin my introduction of this book, I might have chosen

    Art, in which I could write about how the pictures in this book are not mere illustrations of the text, but an important component of the book in their own right.  I envisioned this as a collection of short stories, poetry, and art, in which all three work together to bring delight…

    Adventure, in which I could write about the adventure of running a Kickstarter campaign and putting together this labor of love, as well as the magical adventures in some of the stories…

    Anxiety, in which I could write about how many of us are feeling an extremely high level of anxiety about the world these days, and how I hope that this book offers in some small way a bit of an Antidote, by reminding us that joy, beauty, and love do still exist all around, if we keep our hearts open to recognizing them, and stand up to support them.

        To find out more about the short stories, poetry, and art - and also about the joy, beauty, and love - I hope you’ll stick with me through the month of April.

        Marketing Moral:   Buy my book!  Okay, that’s not exactly subtle, but it is part of my moral of the entire month.  Throughout the A to Z Challenge I’ll be including a variety of ways to support small-time/indie authors and artists so that we can keep making art and keep bringing light into a world that certainly needs it.  It may seem like no big thing, but

in the words of artist Joey Hartmann-Dow, “Art changes people, and people change the world.”

        Proper Moral: A picture may be worth a thousand words, but it’s even cooler when you get words and pictures together!  I love them both!

        Words or pictures?  Do you have a preferred method of communicating, learning, or processing?

[Picture: Arches, collage by AEGNydam from Bittersweetness & Light, 2025 (See NydamPrints.com).]

Theme Revelation: Stories, Poems, and Art

         Now that I’ve been participating in the April A to Z Blog Challenge for many years, I can lead up to this year’s Theme Revelation by way of a little review of themes of the past.

        Did you enjoy last year’s mythical botany in 2024?  This year I’ll have magical dandelions and mushrooms.  If you’ve enjoyed all the fantastical creatures in 2022, 2019, 2018, and 2017, allow me to assure you that this year there will be strange and mysterious creatures including Rainlings, Venusians, ineffable feathersquids, witches’ familiars, a Blue Thing, and of course dragons, to name just a few.  If you enjoyed the magical places we visited in 2021, this year we’ll be travelling to Xyblik’s Cosmic Emporium, the Yem-Thress Zone of Contention, the Home for Dispossessed Familiars, the cloud decks of Venus, and many other strange worlds.  Or perhaps you enjoyed the block prints I featured in 2023, 2020, 2019, and 2017?  Well, I’ll once again be featuring block prints as the vast majority of the illustrations, and this year the block prints will all be my own.  If you enjoyed snippets from my own writing in 2019 and 2018, I’ll be featuring more of my work this year.  And I’ll even continue with my A to Z custom of ending each letter with a moral (or two), because what’s the point of having a pulpit if you can’t preach a bit?

        Here are all those previous years, if you need a quick review…

2024 - The Botany of the Realms of Imagination

2023 - Alphabet Squared: an Alphabet of Block Printed Alphabets

2022 - How to Make a Mythical Creature

2021 - Mythical and Imaginary Places

2020 - Nursery Rhymes (and their Block Printed Illustrations)

2019 - On the Virtues of Beasts of the Realms of Imagination

2018 - Characters from My Own Books

2017 - Block Print Artists

2016 - Mythical Creatures

        And now… What is the theme that allows me to include a sampling of all this most excellent stuff that I hope you’ve enjoyed through the years?  Why, it’s my new book: Bittersweetness & Light, a collection of magical short stories, poetry, and art!  All through the alphabet I’ll be sharing snippets from the book, teasers, fun facts, behind-the-scenes insights, illustrations, and more.  The book was released in January, and has been doing its best since then to bring a little joy and hope into the world wherever it goes.  Goodness knows we need as much sweetness and light as possible, so I hope you’ll join us.

        To start us off today, I’ve got Felicity & Comfort’s Bottled Purrs, the Original & Best Surefire Remedy for Listlessness, Melancholy, Loneliness, & Chills!  Shown here is the version that appears in the book, with colors added digitally from the black and white original, which is a rubber block print.  I find that purrs are utterly fascinating from a scientific standpoint, and also a bit of a mystery as to why humans should find this random animal sound so marvelously comforting.  But whatever the reason, they are definitely a panacea - and when you get them bottled, you don’t even need to worry about allergies!  It’s wise to stock up and make sure you always have plenty on hand, for yourself and to share.

        In my standard A to Z tradition, I’ll be starting early so that I can take a few days off during the month of April.  Join me in getting a jump on the alphabet, or come back in April, when I’ll direct you each day to the correct letter so you can stick with the proper schedule if you prefer.  Either way, I’ll see you soon!

        The moral of this introduction is that I’ll be spending the month trying to show you why my book is almost as good as purring.  But also, the more overwhelming Things feel, the more important it is that we keep reaching out to each other - friends and strangers alike - with all the wisdom, joy, beauty, hope, and humor we can summon.  And since that’s what the A to Z Blog Challenge can do, that’s why I’m here, and that’s why I hope you’ll join me.  To see who else is revealing their A to Z theme, look here.

        Question: Cats or dogs?  Should Felicity & Comfort try bottling tail-wagging, too?

[Picture: Sustainably Harvested, rubber block print by AEGNydam, 2020 (originals sold out), from Bittersweetness & Light, 2025 (See NydamPrints.com).]

Early Spring

         It’s that time when Spring is shifting and stretching in her bed, and thinking about rising.  Sprouts of daffodils are pushing up, snowdrops are blooming, and buckets hang on the sugar maples.  There may be more snow to come, but the sprouts will keep sprouting, and soon the last snow will give way to rain and mud, and sunshine scattering itself in crocuses.  Here are a handful of relief block prints to celebrate.

        First up are “Seven Herbs of Early Spring,” looking as if they’re growing right up out of a snowdrift.  I don’t know the identities of these herbs and whether they have the same sort of resonance for people in Japan as daffodil sprouts and snowdrops have for me.  But they seem to be conquering the snow quite boldly.

        Another piece in which the snow still covers the ground is this view of maple sugaring.  These buckets are about full, so we might get a quart of syrup from all this.  I love maple syrup, and the sight of buckets on local trees always makes me smile.

        Here’s a March hare, along with primroses, violets, and daffodils.  We’re still pretty far from any of those flowers here, but March can shift quickly between winter and spring (and sometimes back and forth several times!)  For a little more about March hares, you can read my prior post about Fantasy Rabbits.

        The flowering trees in this next piece also place it a fair bit later in the season, but the grey color scheme seems about right for today.  I like how the grey has a soft texture, and how the distant windows and the white blossoms seem to sparkle.

        Finally, more color on a dark day.  Here’s one of those heavy, dark March rains, given rich color in a reduction block print in which not one of the umbrellas is the classic black.  There’s a lot to like about this piece, but one particularly interesting choice is the mix of colors where I wouldn’t have expected them: the facades of the buildings and the women’s hair.  But this, too, seems fitting for early spring, in which every touch of color is an interesting surprise!

        T.S. Eliot thought that April was the cruelest month, but I’d definitely go with March.  Still, all that exciting spring burgeoning is right around the corner, and each little early hint of it is a treat that I savor.

        For views of early spring by another of my favorites, Asa Cheffetz, see my post Spring Forward.

[Pictures: Seven Herbs of Early Spring, color woodcut by Kamisaka Sekka, 1909-10 (Image from Cleveland Museum of Art);

Maples, woodcut by Nick Wroblewski (Image from nickwroblewski.com);

March, linocut by Jenny Portlock (Image from jennyportlock.art);

Lake Kawaguchi in Spring, wood block print by Okuyama Gihachiro, 1953 (Image from Artelino);

London Rain, reduction linocut by Diana Croft (Image from Kevis House).]