Friend, Chris Cavanaugh and I were having an online discussion of graphic symbols and I had just printed three rabbits joined by three ears. And he asked about three fishes with one head. I was only vaguely aware of this symbol. I knew it was old but I didn’t know the origin story.
Turns out it is very old and of very different origins, all in the old world. But in the 1960s, Allen Ginsberg adopted the three fish/one head symbol as referring to him. Kind of like a logo, or symbol of him and his art. Cool.
SO, I carved it in wood once and printed. I didn’t like the design. Almost a copy of an image of an ancient clay vessel. So I tried to tweak the plate about three times. I finally gave up. I could not get the print right on the wood block.
I reduced its size, carved it in lino, took out this figure of an old Asian building, replaced it with a representation of a lotus flower, moved the double yin/yang symbols. Added 12 ordinals and a little twist to the outer circle. And removed any sign of the ancient vessel.
Printed one color and hand painted the dots and eye. There are actually two versions. One with yellow and the actual run with orange. Only 9 copies of this run.
After printing, I added my printer’s “chop.” That, too, is like a logo for a print maker.
I put one on the wall. I sent another to Chris Cavanaugh, the muse on this project and one more to a Ginsberg fan who has taught me more than one thing in life. Six left if you are interested.
In affecdtion for the state of Dharma and a tribute to Allen Ginsberg
You don’t know my neighbor (we call him Mr. Tony) but he is a fine specimen of humanity. Long have I tried to find a way to thank him for being helpful, kind, humble and an excellent neighbor.
Recently, he has begun a project of passion. He owns a dozen or so chickens. They bring great joy to him, his wife and his mother-in-law who lives with them. But this chicken coop project started to take on the appearance of an artistic fugue. Shed after shed began to emerge in his back yard. And I stood there in awe and wonder to watch it emerge, grow, evolve.
And in a flash, I know how to say thank you to Mr. Tony. So, for about a week, I photographed, drew, carved, started over but finally, my own opus to his project.
I present “Mr. Tony’s Eggsellent Chicken Emporium: Your Eggs for Nothing & Your Chicks for Free” 2026.
And just so you know it is a real rendering and not an artistic imagining:
This is a variable edition of 20 prints, all titled “Below the Treeline.” Print is 12″ x 12″ on black linen paper. Each image contains three colors. There are six different iterations. I witnessed a moon with similar treatment by Lindsay Perrett on Facebook. I thank her for the inspiration.
This is the happiest accident of this early year. I actually have 4 of these accidents. Three might be usable. This is being sent to my daughter, Maggie, as it is inspired by her son Harvey. I am saving one for me. But three other kids and only two prints…one if the ghost image is unsettling.
My Christmas card list is growing! And I printed some special edition cards for friends who asked. And I framed one for each kid and for the wife and me. Total? 93 made and sent! (I still have 3 for anyone I forgot.) It was a big project. Kept me busy and out of trouble for a couple of weeks.
Brings my total for the year to 385! I promised myself about one year ago today or so that I would make 365 individual pieces of art this year and I did it! I’m very happy about that. Wishing all who read this a safe, healthy, productive holiday season and New Year!
I’ve completed my first commission and had my first disagreement with a client. “That’s not what I asked for,” was the comment. “Well, that’s what I could make today,” I answered. Eventually I found a way to make it acceptable to the client and harmony was restored to the marriage. Yeah, my wife was my first commission.
She liked “Jason’s Tiles” but didn’t think blue would work in her kitchen, so we produced 20 more imprints in this green-green (two colors, pale green and bright green) 4″ x 4″ on while paper arranged and assembled in a four tile panel on green card stock.
This summer, my son and his husband, Jason, went to Portugal to look around. One of the pictures Jason sent back was this lovely, Old World tile. I was so intrigued by it, I decided to duplicate it. Because I wanted to learn something about two-block technique that’s the way I set this experiment up. So far I have a run of 20 of these “tiles” but I’ve left the edition open to make different presentations and perhaps different colors in the future. Watch this space for assemblage pieces.
As seen here it is just under 4″ x 4″ (like real tiles). Printed in water-based inks, mounted on card stock.
Finding the right color for a personality can be easy as pink for Sweetie or as hard as lime green for Hank. Teddy is getting the royal purple treatment. Here he is in everything from blue-purple to red-violet. It has been a great experience inventing this series and Teddy is the fourth suit in the deck.
There are at least 13 of these 5×8 prints and a couple of artist proofs. (also some seconds with too much carving chatter for my taste).
These photos are the first in a series of four (unless I can get my other grands involved). This is a representation of grandson #1, Henrik. You see two images both printed on translucent paper. The first shows the paper on top of the printing bed of my press and you can see the registration marks in blue painters’ tape showing through. The second is how I want to present the image in a frame (probably with a mat). It is lying on top of a sheet of lime green paper. Henrik claims lime green is his favorite color.
Note how laying the green on top of the green, seems to mute the “Joker-like effect” to the image. I’m holding two thumbs up. Three more in the works.
5.5″ x 8″ on translucent paper, limited edition of 12 plus two AP.
I watched a documentary identifying the oldest cave paintings as belonging to Neanderthals. I followed that up with about a dozen YouTube videos. It changes everything in the everlasting narcissism of homo sapiens. Most prehistoric cave art of human hand outlines depicts left hands. It is presumed that means the artist (most likely a woman) was probably using the right hand to help make the images. This original print appears to be a left hand, but, because block printing reverses the image, the original subject matter came from my right hand. In fact, I first created an “original print” of my right hand on paper with printers’ ink. I gave my primitive self free-reign on this project. 9×12 inches on acid-free paper. Edition of 13 plus one original right hand print.
