Thursday, March 23, 2023

RETIREMENT

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AS MY AGING CARCASS BECOMES MORE DIFFICULT TO NAVIGATE AND CONTROL, INCLUDING A CARPAL TUNNEL SYNDROME, THE ABILITY TO ENGRAVE WOOD AND OPERATE THE PRESS HAS ENDED FOR ME. IN OTHER WORDS I'VE RETIRED FROM WOOD ENGRAVING. AT THE BEGINNING OF THIS RETIREMENT IT WAS DEPRESSING AND I MISSED GOING TO THE STUDIO. MY SON KURT ENCOURAGED ME TO GET OUT THERE AND DRAW, SO I DECIDED TO TAKE HIS ADVICE AND AFTER AN HOUR OR SO I COULD SEE THAT THIS WOULD BE THE ANSWER. I GUESS I HAD BEEN MORE ATTATCHED TO WOOD ENGRAVING THAN I THOUGHT. I OPENED AN OLD SMALL SKETCHBOOK I HAD AND BEGAN BY SITTING AND STARING AT THE BLANK PAGE, WITH NO IDEA IN MIND. I TOOK MY PEN IN MY RIGHT HAND (THE BLOCKED CARCASS HAND) AND MADE SOME RANDOM LINES AND MARKS AROUND THE PAGE, WITH NOTHING IN MIND. AFTER A WHILE THERE WAS QUITE A NUMBER OF THE MARKS AND I NOTICED A POSSIBLE FORM. I TOOK OFF WITH IT AND FINISHED THE SKETCH. MY HAND DIDN'T ACHE SO I TURNED THE PAGE AND STARTED ANOTHER THE SAME WAY, AND THAT'S THE METHOD I'VE BEEN USING. IT'S BEEN OVER A MONTH NOW AND I'VE FINISHED 31 DRAWINGS. HERE'S A FEW, IF YOU CLICK ON THE IMAGE IT WILL ENLARGE:

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