A to Z 2024 Theme Revelation!

         This will be my eighth year participating in the April A to Z Blog Challenge (plus one more year in which I did an alphabet series on my own).  During the Challenge, bloggers from around the world post 26 pieces through the month of April, arranged according to the alphabet.  Because this blog is about both Fantasy and Relief Block Printmaking, my themes in past years have been

     2016 - Mythical Creatures, a general digest

     2017 - Relief Block Printmakers

     2018 - Characters in the Books I’ve Written

     2019 - Mythical Creatures featured in my own book On the Virtues of Beasts of the Realms of Imagination

     2020 - Traditional English-language Nursery Rhymes and their block printed illustrations

     2021 - Mythical and Imaginary Places

     2022 - How to Make a Fantastical Creature (Traits common among monsters and marvels)

     2023 - Block Printed Alphabet Squared (an Alphabet of Block Printed Alphabets)

        That’s the history - feel free to revisit any of them (you can use the labels in the sidebar) and drop new comments.  But now the time has come to reveal the future: the theme for… (sound the fanfare…)

     2024 - The Botany of the Realms of Imagination

        I’ve done many many posts on magical creatures, but not too many on magical plants… and that omission ends now!  Presenting twenty-six posts lavishing attention on magical botany!  To clarify, this is about mythical plants of folklore, fairy tale, and fantasy, not about real plants that are said to have magical properties (although occasionally those categories may blur slightly).  As usual, I’ll give preference to block prints to illustrate the featured plants, but that won’t be possible for many of them, so there will be a wide variety of illustrations.

        In my usual sanity-saving practice, I will be starting early in order to give myself a few days off during the month of April.  You can come back next week for the letter A, or you can come back on April 1, and each day in April I’ll direct you to the officially scheduled letter with links.  This year, however, in a new and desperate additional attempt to preserve my sanity, I really am going to rein myself in and feature just a few plants each time.  And since my posts will be a little shorter than some years, you’ll have more time to read more of the other A to Z Blogs!  Be sure to check out the Master List of all the participating bloggers, which you can find HERE.

        So, put on your magical gardening gloves and get ready to dig in.  Maybe you’ll discover some new plants to grow in your own fantasy garden!  Or, if you’ve been around for a while, which was your favorite of my previous themes?

[Pictures: Assorted illustrations from Libellus de Medicinalibus Indorum Herbis by Martin de la Cruz and Juan Badiano, 1552 (Images from Academia);

Garden Apartments, rubber block print by AEGNydam, 2017 (sold out).]

Tales After Tolkien Guest Post

         Today’s post is just a short signpost, to send you over to the Tales After Tolkien Society, where I have a guest post about the connection between medievalism, Tolkien, and my bestiary On the Virtues of Beast of the Realms of Imagination.  I’m delighted to be featured there because I’m always a scholar at heart, despite not having gone into academia.  So when I heard from a fellow author about their invitation to fantasy authors to reflect on how medievalism and Tolkien-ism influence their work, I jumped on the opportunity.

        Head right on over to Guest Post: A Modern Fantasy Project with a Medieval Inspiration.  And be sure to leave a comment and give Tales After Tolkien some love!

[Picture: Tales After Tolkien Society header (Image from Tales After Tolkien).]

#AtoZChallenge Theme Reveal

         I will be participating in the April A to Z Blog Challenge once again this year, in which we post for every letter of the alphabet through the month of April.  As has become my usual custom, I’ll be beginning right away in March so as to give myself a few more breaks during the month of April.  So you can either join me now to get in the alphabetic mood for a couple of extra weeks early, or you can wait for April and then come back and read each letter’s post on its officially designated day.  (I’ll put lots of links to direct you easily around.)  Either way, I’m delighted to have you joining.  And as for what you’ll find when you join me…

        This year’s theme is Mythical and Imaginary Places.  

Pack light, but don’t forget your towel: we’ll be visiting strange, mysterious, and magical places throughout time and space.  The distinction I’m making between “mythical” and “imaginary” is that while the latter are straight fiction, the former may be understood by believers in various times and places to be real in either a spiritual or physical sense.  What the two categories have in common is that they won’t be found on a standard map of Earth, and they’re all magical and full of wonders.  Another thing they all have in common is that they tell us as much about ourselves as about their own exotic topography and denizens.  As T.S. Eliot wrote, “the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.”  (Having spent the last two years of A-Z giving you morals, why should I stop now?)  Of course, self-awareness is great, but seeing magical new landscapes is pretty awesome, too, so join me in my alphabetical travels this year!

        And don’t forget to travel around to all my fellow A to Z Bloggers, as well.  You can find the Master List here.  (There are still a few more days to join, too.)

[Picture: Footbridge between worlds, lithograph by J.J. Grandville from Un Autre Monde, 1844 (Image from blacque_jacque);

Sky City, rubber block print by AEGN, 2012 (sold out).]

10th Blogiversary!

        Congratulations to me: I have now been blogging for 10 years!  That’s a grand total of 1055 posts so far.  It’s inevitable that age is withering me, and I suspect that custom may be staling my infinite variety, but nevertheless, I hope you’re still enjoying the block prints and fantasy that I’m featuring.  I have recently been posting slightly less frequently (and on a slightly less regular schedule) but I
don’t have any expectation of stopping soon.  There’s still so much wonderful stuff to share!  Whether I’ll be going for another 10 years, of course, is certainly not guaranteed.

        Today’s block prints are just two small pieces that I’ve been saving up for some time, but hadn’t yet had an occasion to post.  First is a winged lion of Venice (from the symbol of St Mark), which I spotted in the window of an antiquarian bookstore in Venice.  It was in the evening (we were on our way to find gelato) and the shop was closed, but it seems to be the title page of a history of Venice written by Sabellicus in the late fifteenth century, although this is presumably an edition from the sixteenth century.  It’s a lovely wood block print, with lots of beautiful details, including wonderfully ruffled feathers and a nice little tower in the background.  I include a view of the bookshop where it was residing, as well.

        For contrast, I have another beast with a very different style.  This charming porcupine is by Wharton Esherick from 1925.  Its huge eye gives it a solemn look, but its cartoonish simplicity makes it seem like a children’s toy.  It illustrates an essay by D.H. Lawrence that, in my quick skim-through, does not appear to be at all charming or childlike so, just as with the winged lion, I prefer to enjoy the picture as its own creature, with its own life and personality, independent of its commercial purpose.  Works of the imagination can do that.

        So, 10 years of blogging.  You know what else I’ve been doing for the past 10 years?  Not Instagram!  However, I have finally broken down and started posting on Instagram.  My theme there is Joy and Inspiration.  I hope to post a picture a day (roughly — I’m not going to worry if I miss sometimes) of something that brings me joy or inspiration.  I imagine things
that make me happy may make others happy, as well, and the more distressing the news becomes, the more important I think it is to notice and acknowledge the joy that does still keep bubbling up in the universe, ready to surprise us if we can see it.  After all, if there weren’t any joy in life and love, why bother with the blood, sweat, and tears of keeping on working for a better world?  Some of the pictures I post will certainly be block prints, and some may be related to fantasy, but a lot will just be photos of the delightful things I see around me in my day.  If you’re curious about what cheers me up, in case it might cheer you, too, feel free to check it out: NydamPrints on Instagram.

[Pictures: Lion of Venice, wood block print from title page of Historiae rerum venetarum ab urbe condita by Sabellicus, probably c 1560;

Antiquarian bookshop in Venice, photo by AEGN, 2017;

Porcupine by Wharton Esherick from D.H. Lawrence’s Reflections on the Death of a Porcupine, 1925;
April robins' nest, as posted on Instagram, photo by AEGN, 2020.]

10 Dragons, 1000 Posts

        This is my 1000th blog post.  (Do posts work like paper cranes, granting me a wish for peace now that I’ve reached 1000?  Well, I can always wish.)  To celebrate the blog I am sharing a selection of some of my favorite dragons that I’ve discovered in my research into bestiaries.  How about 10 dragons, celebrating 100 posts each?

        These images range from the twelfth to the fourteenth centuries, and the first dragon, with its delightfully bird-like build and leafy tail, is the earliest of this bunch.  The second dragon has remarkably beautiful wings, and it should be noted that more than half of these dragons have feathered wings, rather than the leathery bat-like wings considered standard today.  It also has a remarkably beautiful background and borders.  (Remember that you can click on the pictures to see them bigger.)

        The next looks like it would be right at home in the 1930s instead of the 1330s, and the one beside it is actually just a marginal decoration rather than an illustration of any creature in particular.  I love that it’s breathing foliage instead of fire.  The fifth is a scitalis, which is a kind of serpent notable for its wondrous markings.  Presumably it should have been portrayed as a snake, sans legs or wings, but medieval bestiaries have a tendency to turn all sorts of serpents into dragons, and I’m not complaining.

        The yellow and orange dragon with the head like a puppy dog is part of the illustration of the peridexion tree of India.  This tree repels dragons, so that any doves that stay within its branches are safe from the predations of dragons.  It also sits upon a lovely background design.

        The next dragon, with proper batwings and interestingly webbed feet, is another marginal decoration, and the multicolored beast on gold is another scitalis.  I included the brown dragon below for its goofy grimace.  You can see at once that it was painted by the same artist who made the goofily grimacing malacomorph I featured four years ago.  In fact, if you search the manuscript (link in the credits) you will be amazed by how almost every creature on earth can be depicted with a goofy grimace.  Goofy grimaces must be the superpower of that particular fourteenth-century artist.

        And finally, an amphisbaena, a double-headed serpent.  Like the scitalises, this one has sprouted gratuitous legs and wings.  Speaking of legs, however, while the serpents may have more legs than expected, the dragons have fewer.  There are certainly some medieval dragons with four legs, but not all that many, and I haven’t included any in this celebratory collection.  The dragon/wyvern distinction  hadn’t been invented yet.

        Well, I hope you enjoy these dragons, which have certainly delighted me!  And I hope you've enjoyed this blog over the past 1000 posts.

[Pictures: Dragon, illustration from English Bestiary, 4th quarter of the 12th century (Image from the British Library);

Dragon, illumination from Franco-Flemish Bestiary, c 1270 (Image from J. Paul Getty Museum);

Dragon from Bestiarius Philippi Taeoniensis, 14th century (Image from Kongelige Bibliotek);

Marginal decoration from Hebrew Festival prayer book, Italian, 3rd quarter of the 15th century (Image from the British Library);

Scitalis, illumination from English Bestiary, 1226-1250 (Image from Bodleian Libraries);

Dragon and Peridexion Tree, illumination from French Bestiary, 13th century (Image from Bibliotheque Nationale de France);

Bas-de-page illustration of a dragon from the Queen Mary Psalter, 1310-1320 (Image from the British Library);

Scitalis, illumination from the Aberdeen Bestiary, c 1200 (Image from University of Aberdeen);

Dragon, illumination from Der naturen bloeme by van Maerlant, c 1350 (Image from National Library of the Netherlands);

Amphisbaena, illustration from Bestiary, 1236 - c 1250 (Image from the British Library).]

A-Z Reflections

        I had a really good time with the A-Z Challenge this year.  I discovered more blogs, left and received more comments, and felt more like the comments constituted actual conversations rather than simply polite words dropped into the ether.  I attribute this at least in part to the fact that I spent an enormous amount of time going through all the other blogs - probably more time than I could really afford, to be honest.  But it was interesting, and I do hope to keep up with some of the amazing blogs I discovered.

        My theme was based on an alphabet book of fantasy creatures I’m doing, and largely overlapped with the Kickstarter campaign I launched to support the project.  The Kickstarter campaign ends in just 47 hours, by the way, so if you are curious and haven’t yet checked it out, scoot on over and see what I’m devising.  It’s almost 350% funded and I’ve been blown away by the positive response, of which the A-Z Challenge has been part.  Thank you!  (The project was also selected as a Kickstarter “Project We Love” and featured in a post by Lisa Ferland on Top 10 List of Books on Crowdfunding Platforms.  *smiles and blushes*)

        This past weekend I was showing at an Open Studios event and spent the weekend (when not talking with visitors) carving blocks for the last two creatures planned for the book.  So at some point I’ll get them finished and printed, and they’ll no doubt eventually be posted here for a mythical creature bonus.  Teaser - one is called the Grand Marhoot, and the other block includes three different Zhahmatonians: the kuklopawn, the alfidi, and the quatrukhana.  I hope you’re enticed!  Meanwhile, if you want an overview of the fantasy creatures featured throughout April (plus the extras, since half the letters actually have two), you can see them all on my web site here.

        Here are just a few of the blogs I visited most regularly this year (though by no means the only ones I enjoyed!):

Atherton’s Magic Vapour with Golden Age Mystery Tropes

Temenos (Deborah Weber) with Cabinet of Curiosities

The Slightly Eccentric Diary of Rob Z Tobor with... general goofiness? and ducks

Finding Eliza with African-American Genealogy and Slave Ancestry Research

The Multicolored Diary with Fruit Folktales

        As for next year, I certainly don’t have plans for any projects as grand and ambitious as this year, but I have started keeping a list of alphabet ideas, so I’m sure I’ll come up with something for the A-Z Challenge.  I look forward to seeing you all again — or, of course, you’re certainly welcome to visit any time of the year, not just in April!  Thanks to everyone who stopped by and said hello throughout the challenge, and special appreciation for my regular visitors.  You really made it enjoyable.

        Did you have a favorite creature this year?  Or a suggestion for what you’d like to see next year?

[Picture: AEGN at Needham Open Studios, carving the block for the Grand Marhoot, 2019 (Photo by G. Arrieta-Ruetenik).]

#AtoZChallenge

        I will once again be participating in the April A to Z Blog Challenge this year, and it’s time for the Theme Revelation.  *Cue the fanfare*  For 2019 I will be featuring fantastical creatures from my upcoming bestiary, On the Virtues of Beasts of the Realms of Imagination.  I’ve featured lots of these wonderful animals before, plus lots of other alphabetical mythical creatures, too.  On the one hand, it would be no fun merely to copy previous posts, but on the other, I want to make sure interested readers get the maximum alphabetical creature goodness,  so this year’s A-Z posts will be heavy on the links.  If you want to get the full content for each letter, you will have to click through to additional posts.  Of course I hope to entice you by including lots of new content, as well.

        So, what exactly is a bestiary, and what is my book all about?  From the explanation in the book:  Especially popular around the twelfth century, bestiaries were best-sellers of Medieval Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East.  Bestiaries are, of course, collections of beasts, but the medieval ones that the word "bestiary" usually implies include not only natural history, but also all sorts of symbolism, moral lessons, and what we now believe to be sheer fairy tale.

        My take on it for this project is a beast for every letter of the alphabet (plus half the letters ended up with two), which are all fantastical creatures from mythologies and folklore all around the world.  Each animal is illustrated with an original relief block print, a description and a little vignette or story, and a moral lesson.  The whole thing is written in a deliberately old-fashioned style, but with stories and morals that I hope will resonate with modern readers.  It’s a bit quirky and doesn’t necessarily fit into any easy marketing category — it’s a picture book but it’s not really for children; it’s fantasy, but not really a story; it's an alphabetized collection of mythical creatures, but not really an encyclopedia or reference work; it’s got moralizing, but it’s not really a sermon, or a religious book, or self-help… — but nevertheless I hope it will catch your fancy!

        “Okay,” you say, “Nice Theme Reveal, but I can’t help but notice that the banner above says ‘March 18’, and this happens to be March 11.”  My, aren’t you observant!  I hope you read all my other posts so carefully.  Yes, I am officially Revealing my Theme early because, as always, I’m tweaking the official schedule the better to suit my own blogging habits.  Once again I’ll be starting the challenge early, and this year the hard-working and innovative A-Z Challenge Team have announced that there will not be a separate daily list for each letter.  That means that if you’re coming from the Challenge you’ll be using the Master List, and that means that for every day except Y and Z you will find the wrong letter when you land here.  I’ll provide yet more links to help you find your way, and I trust you can roll with it.  So, welcome back to the A to Z Challenge.  Enjoy!

[Picture: draft cover design for On the Virtues of Beasts of the Realms of Imagination, by AEGN, 2019.]

A-Z Reflections

        Well, I don’t generally publish my reflections about my blogging because why should anyone care?  But this year they’re asking that the Reflections post be linked in order to tally up everyone who completed the A-Z Challenge, so here are a few thoughts so that I dutifully have reflections to link:

     - I should have included a one-sentence intro at the top of each post reiterating what my theme was, so that people who dipped in here and there would understand what they were finding.

     - I wish the spreadsheet of the links for each day was searchable (or maybe it was, and I just didn’t know how.)  Also that it included the title of each post.

     - My speed would definitely be to do the alphabet over two months instead of just one, but I certainly enjoyed coming up with all the posts, and managed to keep ahead of the days better this year than last (although that probably had more to do with my theme than with my somehow getting better at blog challenges).

        And now I shall share something a little more interesting for all you alphabet lovers.  This alphabet, illustrated with hand-colored woodcuts, comes from The Hobby-Horse, or the High Road to Learning from 1820.  There are some really interesting details, especially considering that this was most definitely intended to be educational for children.  What children’s alphabet today would include “D - was a Drunkard” or “G - was a Gamester”?  What educational book would teach children that the Robber should be whipped, the Oyster-wench is a scold, and the Vintner is a sot?  And notice that we're missing the letters I and U; they were often considered mere variants of J and V.  (Plus it's easier to arrange 24 letters than 26... and would have made April's challenge a little easier, too.)

        There are some pretty amusing details, as well, such as the King governing a mouse, for no apparent reason other than making a rhyme, which presumably also explains why on earth an archer should shoot a frog.  There’s the elegant Lady dressed in such current fashion that you can date the book from her attire alone.  There’s the Quaker who looks extremely un-Quakerly, apparently refusing to bow not because of a belief in equality but because of sheer overwhelming snobbery.

        These particular wood block prints are certainly not my favorite style, although some of the people’s expressions are skillfully done like political cartoons, and the hand coloring in this edition, though I tend to prefer my woodcuts uncolored, is exceptionally high quality.  Mostly, though, this alphabet is a fascinating demonstration of how children’s books illuminate their own time and agenda with remarkable clarity… and that’s surely amusing and educational.

[Pictures: “A was an Archer” alphabet from The Hobby-Horse, or the High Road to Learning, published by J. Harris and Son, 1820 (Images from A Nursery Companion by Iona and Peter Opie, 1980).]

A to Z Theme Reveal

        I’m going to take part in the April A to Z Blog Challenge once again, and today is the official grand Theme Reveal.  Since last year’s theme was block printing, this year's is writing.  Specifically, I’m going to be self-centered and feature a character from one of my own books for each letter of the alphabet.  My plan, to keep things short and sweet, is not to do a lot of analysis, but simply to illustrate each character with an excerpt in which they’re introduced, described, or reveal aspects of their personality.  As you’ll discover, if you aren’t already familiar with my work, most of what I write is at least somewhat fantastical, and much of it is for children of a range of ages.  But those genre distinctions may or may not be evident in the excerpts I share.  It isn’t about the plot or the setting, although of course elements of those will be intertwined; it’s all about the characters.  Some are heroes, some are villains, some are just innocent bystanders.  Some of the characters are the main protagonists of my stories, while others are the main protagonists only of their own stories, and are quite minor characters in my books.  I hope that they will all seem equally worthy of attention.

        Of course, that begs the question inherent in sharing my own work: why should anyone care at all?  It’s an excellent question, and one that I don’t have a good answer for, since I still, after nearly eight years of blogging, can’t really understand why all us bloggers, tweeters, instagrammers, etc. seem to believe that everyone else in the universe should care what we have to say!  I’m no best-selling household name, and none of my books has ever been made into a blockbuster movie.  Not one!  But the alphabet challenge offers an interesting way to force a selection of characters that might not otherwise be obvious, to test the premise that every character should be interesting.  So I invite you to meet 26 of my characters, and see whether any of them catch your attention, make you curious about their stories, or just tickle your imagination.  I hope you’ll find them an entertaining bunch.

        I'll be doing a slightly modified schedule, starting early so I can spread out my posts just a bit.  (Don't worry: they'll still all be linked on the correct days.)  And while you wait for everyone else to begin their posts in April, if you’re interested in what other A-Z Challenge bloggers will be sharing you can check out links to all their Theme Revelations here.

A-Z Challenge - Theme Reveal

        You know how much I like alphabets, so when I heard about the A-Z Blog Challenge, I figured it was just the thing for me.  The idea is that every blog that participates picks a theme and then spends the month of April doing a post on the theme for every letter of the alphabet.  Although April is the official A-Z Challenge month, today is the official day to reveal one’s theme.  I already did a fantasy alphabet theme, so this time… drum roll… I will share a relief block print artist for each letter of the alphabet.  I’ve got some artists I’ve never featured before, and I plan to link to artists I’ve already mentioned, so I’m hoping this will end up creating a great index of block print artists.

        In addition, it will be fun to see what themes other bloggers do, because there’s the social aspect of everyone doing this together, and linking into the same list.  (The list of participating blogs is all the comments below the A to Z Challenge site's post of the day.)  Unlike the last alphabetical series, which was just me, this series will be part of a whole big April Alphabet party.

        Okay, but being the rebel that I am, I’ve devised a system that I think will work better for me, and be more consistent with the way this blog is usually formatted.  Instead of 6 posts a week for the month of April, I will do 3 posts a week, and I’ll start early and run late.  So tune in on Wednesday to find out what A artist will kick us off…

Happy Birthday!

        This blog is now six years old and over 625 posts featuring gorgeous art, inspiring fantasy, and incredible wisdom and insight (or something like that.)  Six years of blogging may not be a particularly useful accomplishment, but it’s certainly an accomplishment of some sort, so I went looking for some relief block prints of celebrations.  I soon discovered that most depictions  of revelry in the history of art are not exactly my kind of party.  Exhibit 1: this fabulous woodcut of an appalling gang of drunk and disorderly party animals from the mid-seventeenth century.  Smoking, drinking, brawling, and barfing just aren't my idea of fun.

      So I looked for more festive images and found this charming group of revellers, also listed as a seventeenth century woodcut.  Frankly, I have my doubts.  I think the people look much more like the early twentieth century in style, and their clothes definitely aren't seventeenth-century.  The solid black banner in the middle would be quite unusual in an early wood block print, and the scalloped pattern on the ground seems more modern to me, too.  So I wish I could get more information on this.  (Oh, the frustration of the internet.)  Still, I find the image delightful, no matter when it was made.

        Perhaps I’d better just forget the party scheme.  Maybe this group of jesters and fools is more appropriate to illustrate six years of blogging - a foolish endeavor, no serious utility, but hopefully some entertainment value!

[Pictures: The Industrious Smith, wood block print from a ballad by Humphrey Crouch, 1833-52 (Image from Shaping Sense, and English Broadside Ballad Archive);

Villagers dancing around a maypole, woodcut, seventeenth century? (Image from Hidden Highgate);

Rural Recreations, wood block print from a ballad, 1641-1703 (Image from English Broadside Ballad Archive).]

Irresistibly Sweet Blog Award

        Last month the fabulous Janice Floyd Durante at Books of Wonder and Wisdom tapped me for the "Irresistibly Sweet Blog Award."  Thanks, Janice!  It's fun to be connected.  This is the sort of thing that makes the world wide web feel like a web.

        So, the rules are that I tell seven interesting things about myself, and pass the award along to some other deserving blogs.  It's taken me so long to pass it on because I listed seven interesting things back in January, and I'm afraid there may not be seven more interesting facts about me.  Is it interesting to note just how placid, privileged, and pleasant my life is?  Certainly I feel unusually blessed.  But here goes: another list of factoids about moi.

        1.  I've kept a journal since 1979.  The first few years were rather intermittent, but I've been writing just about every day for about 28 years now.  (Wow, what a scary thought!)  And what do I find to write each and every day of a placid, privileged life?  Not much, I assure you.  It's a sad, sad addiction that I feel this need to set the day's thoughts in order even on those all-too-frequent days when I've had no thoughts worth remembering.  It's an even sadder addiction when I steal from my own children to sate the craving…  Yes, one evening a couple months back, when I was ready to sit down before bed and write, I found myself without a new blank volume.  Desperate, I grabbed my daughter T's composition book from school, cut out the used pages, and settled down with a relieved sigh to start a new volume of my journal…  (Don't worry.  School was out.  She didn't need it any more.  Really!)

        2.  I love llamas!  Llamas are marvelous!  And yet I've never done a block print of a llama.  (I did a vicuña, for the V for my animal alphabet, but no llama.)  The reason is simple: I'm afraid I don't know how to do the Best Llama Block Print Ever, and anything less than the best would be too terrible a disappointment.  But I still hope that someday I'll carve and print a tribute to the wonderful llama, and when I do you'll know that I'm finally feeling myself to be a master.

        3.  It's too hard to choose a favorite color, but much easier to name my least favorite color: pink.  Actually, I freely admit that pink has its place in this beautiful world of ours, but in my opinion that place should be a much smaller one than it currently holds - especially in toy stores.  I never fail to feel shocked by the disparity between the aggressive pink of the designated girl aisles and the violent black and red of the designated boy aisles.  Why must toys be marketed this way?  (But enough about Society, this is supposed to be about me me me.)

        4-7.  Well, I'm a couple factoids short, but I'll be a bit short on the blog-sharing part, too.  Actually, I think I'll let that part do double duty, and sneak a few facts about me into the following list of cool blogs…

        *  My Dream Dollhouse

Making doll houses of all themes and scales was one of my main hobbies as a child.  I built houses for various small toys, I built houses of all different materials, and as I got older I concentrated on creating standard 1:12 scale dollhouse miniatures.  I haven't made any miniatures in years, but I still love to look at them.  This blog has lots of great photos of amazing miniature creations.

        *  History Myths Debunked

I love history, but not the battles and governments type.  I like the fascinating glimpses into what life was like for people in other times and places. How would it feel to be alive in a different time?  How would I be a different person if I lived in a different world?  This blog is full of the intriguing tidbits that inform those questions.  (Good stuff for writers of fantasy set in different types of cultures, too.)

        *  abigailsateliers

I have a hate-hate relationship with today's fashion world, but I've always had an interest in historical costume.  I like the historical research and emphasis on accuracy in this blog (although I might wish the punctuation were as accurate as the sewing!)  I also like the way she's interested in people as well as their clothing.

        *  animals, animals, animals

If you've been to my web site and seen all the block prints I make of animals, it won't come as a surprise that I love creatures of all kinds.  As a kid I watched natural history specials on PBS every week, and that was pretty much the only TV I watched.  Here's a fun site celebrating the wonderful diversity of the animal world.  It's truly amazing, beguiling, and curious!

And finally, another crop of interesting block printing blogs.

        *  eraser carving and printmaking

        *  Mangle Prints

        *  hanmade

These artists do such beautiful work, and show such great inspirations.  I love to see the way other artists work.  And of course I feel a kinship with all the other artists out there doing block prints.  Go, team, go!

[Blog award rules: Thank the blogger who passed on the award to you, list 7 interesting facts about yourself, and pass the award on to 10-15 other deserving blogs.]

[Picture: Vicuña, rubber block print by AEGN, 2010.]

Happy Birthday to "Black and White"

Sound the trumpets for One Year of Blogging!

        Forgive me for being self-indulgent, here, but I have to take a moment to note that I have now been blogging for one year.  Sometimes I look forward and try to imagine whether or not I'll still be doing this in another year, or two, or ten… Undoubtedly I'll stop some time!  But for now I'm still having fun coming up with interesting art and fiction topics, researching them, writing my little mini-essays, and reading any comments with which you're kind enough to respond.

        I said I was being self-indulgent in this post, but of course the very nature of blogging is basically self-indulgent.  Before I began this project, I was rather anti-blog, and in some ways I still am, because I don't believe that my every thought is important enough to share with the rest of the world.  I'm somewhat disturbed by the fact that so many people seem to believe that their every personal detail does belong in the face of the public.  (As a bit of an introvert, I'm not sure how I feel about putting my personal thoughts out onto the world stage where, despite the fact that not too many people ever do actually see them, millions of people could.)  On the other hand, I love that people from all around the world who would never have any other contact with each other can now share ideas about the things that excite them.  So I continue to think of this blog as a conversation (admittedly terribly one-sided!) with like-minded people (and possibly a few proverbial dogs) out there in the ether.  What I like about blogging is the idea of reaching out and trying to make a few connections.

        That's really what the fiction-writing is all about, too, when it comes right down to it.  It's about taking something deeply personal and putting it out into the world for others to see, in the hope of making a connection.  In both writing and art there's the possibility of spinning a thread from deep inside the creator, out into the world, and back into another heart on the other end.  That's why I do what I do.

        

[Picture: Trumpet, rubber block print by AEGN, 2009 (sold out).]

The Versatile Blogger Award

        All right, I think "Award" may be a bit of an overglorification.  This is more like a cross between a chain letter and a lovely pat on the back.  I was tapped for this by the most excellent Penelope of Penelope's Romance Reviews.  Her intelligence and wit confound all my stereotypes of the Romance genre.  Thanks, Penny!
        As a recipient of this prestigious peer award, I now have to 

   1.  Link the blogger who gave this award.  [Check!]

   2.  Share 7 things about myself.

   3.  Pass this award on to 10 other bloggers recently discovered.  [This is great - it forces me to get my act together for my long-under-construction links section.  But 10 may be a bit many even so…]

   4.  Notify recipients.

        So I'll start with the seven interesting (? or maybe merely odd) facts about myself.

     1. The family story goes that I was born when my father was still filling out the hospital forms.  By the time he first saw me a little while later, I smiled at him.  My brothers commend me for this brilliant marketing move, but alas, that was the high point of my PR career.  My self-marketing skills have gone downhill from that day forward.

     2.  In my childhood I won a number of prizes in Cricket magazine's poetry contests, cementing my dream of being a writer.

     3.  I played field hockey in junior high and high school and was the nicest player on the field, though I say it myself.  I even apologized if I happened to knock anyone over as I blew past her with the ball.  (I did already admit that I'm a good little girl.)  But lest you think politeness is contrary to the winning spirit, let me assure you that in both junior and senior year I was our team's high scorer and was elected to the All-League and All-Region teams.

     4.  One summer during college I worked as a security guard at the Cleveland Museum of Art.  (This may be funny only if you've seen me.  I'm not exactly bruiser material.  But I was very good at saying, "Excuse me, sir, please don't steal the art.")  It was extremely cool to see backstage and to spend all that time with the amazing art.

     5.  While at college I worked in the cafeteria and was known for dispensing interesting vegetable facts with every serving.  (I was also known for draining the veggies decently before plopping them on the plate, something apparently none of the other servers did.)  Did you know that according to Pliny, ancient Egyptians invoked the onion when taking oaths?  And in 1696 Madame de Maintenon, wife of Louis XIV, said of green peas, "The impatience to eat them, the pleasure of having eaten them, and the joy of eating them again are the three points of private gossip… It is both a fashion and a madness."  Maybe it's time you gave vegetables a little more respect!

     6.  Senior year in college I took Sanskrit.  The professor said he could teach us Latin in a week, but Sanskrit was hard enough that it would take him a whole month… This led me to wonder about what it means to "teach," if no one learns anything.  I can, however, still recite the opening lines of the Nala and Damayanti story from the Mahabharata in the original Sanskrit, for what that's worth.

     7.  I can tie a cherry stem in a knot with only my teeth and tongue.  I keep thinking that surely someday this skill will prove useful… (Disarming the bomb in the supervillain's lair while handcuffed to the crane over the shark tank, perhaps?)…  But so far it has not.

        And now for some blogs.  I have to begin with the confession that I'm not really much of a blog reader.  I mean, I read a lot of interesting stuff posted on blogs, but I tend to come to posts by wandering the internet "researching" whatever thread my curiosity happens to be spinning at the time.  And after reading the interesting post, I wander off again.  So I'm sorry I haven't come up with the full number of bloggers I should, yet.  I hope I'll add more to my list in time.

     1.  I'll put Collage Lab by Two first, because it may soon stop having new postings.  It's a year-long series of experiments with collage work, and it's really fun to get a detailed description of the creative process at work.  Even after Nan and Kay's official year is over, this will be a great resource for a much wider range of artists than just those interested in collage.  (That's one of their pieces pictured here.)

     2.  The Printsy: Printmakers of Etsy blog is neat because it features frequent interviews with printmakers.  I really enjoy seeing the different approaches different people take.  They've also started running links to tutorials of different techniques, which is cool.

     3.  Words on Woodcuts features one image in each post, along with commentary that ranges from art critique to a reaction in the form of poetry.  Martha Knox's taste differs somewhat from mine, which means that many of the images she features (including her own, of course) are completely new to me.  And that means that there's always something interesting to see here.

     4.  Jane Sassaman is an amazing quiltmaker and her Idea Book blog has gorgeous pictures and fun ideas.  If you're ever feeling the doldrums, a dose of her bright, beautiful quilts will lift your spirits.

     5.  There are lots of blogs that review juvenile literature.  Charlotte's Library is one that focusses on fantasy and sci fi.  It reminds me just how many books out there I haven't read yet!  I've already started taking notes for the next trip to the library...

     6. Here's a blog I just found this weekend while poking about.  Sunday Scribblings apparently gives a writing prompt each week.  I haven't done any yet - I can't even say whether I'll end up being interested in any of the prompts.  And since you're expected to do your writing on the weekend, I may not be able to do them along with the site at all.  (I guess I'd really want "Tuesday Scribblings.")  But I still thought it was a cool idea, and I intend to check back at this one regularly if I can.

     7.  And finally (for now, at least) here's another site where I haven't spent much time but for which I have high hopes:  Shrinking Violet Promotions: Marketing for Introverts.  I hope it will be just the sort of ideas I need, since whatever skill I have as an artist and a writer is pretty useless unless I can also develop some skill in letting people know about the existence of my art and writing.  Does that sound dangerously like a New Year's Resolution?  Luckily I don't really make resolutions, so we'll just have to see how the year proceeds.
     8. (Added 2/2/11) Here's another: Books of Wonder and Wisdom, a blog about "children's literature that cultivates peace, justice, respect, and curiosity."  See what I mean about juvenile literature saving the world?

[Pictures: The Whole World, rubber block print by AEGN, 2008;
Tying up Loose Ends, collage by Nan Daly and Kay Villa, as shown on their blog, Collage Lab by Two.]