Originally titled Bird Logic, from about 1976.
A digitally-altered version of this print has been gracing my banner for several months now. But the real deal is this collagraph, my first and only. It’s old, of course, but one of my favorites, and lot of time and thought went into making it.
The image portrayed the opposite aspects of my own personality. On the one hand, I felt shy and wanted to remain sheltered in my own familiar surroundings. This was the blue bird, curled up, and with the paper details recessed in the printing process. But I had another side that was more adventurous and outgoing and wanted to fly beyond the confines of my everyday life. This was the orange bird, with the paper details popping out, and the bird literally flying out of its protective circle. The orange and blue colors are even opposites, of sorts, but I have muted them somewhat, so they can coexist side by side.
I saved all the original components of this print, because they are little works of art in and of themselves. (and because, you never know, I may someday get a chance to try to make some more prints!) You can see how I had to build them in layers, and the plates were the opposite of how they would print out, with the shy bird raised up and the bold one recessed.
As for the prints themselves, I made only a very few artists proofs. Getting the ink colors right, and actually printing everything without getting any stray ink blobs was really hard, but the whole process was very satisfying.
Note: Once again, my technical ineptitude has gotten the better of me, and I somehow managed not to upload the thumbnail with my link to IF. Thank you for finding it anyway!!
