Happy Holidays

Holiday card, 2005, three-color linocut on card stock.

Holiday Card, 2009

This year's holiday card, linocut on card stock. Am torn between calling it "Candy Cane Triumphant," or "Behold, the Power of the Cane-Shaped Peppermint Stick!"



I kid, I kid. Anyway, warmest holiday wishes for now and the New year. Peace on earth, good will to all. And candy.

That time of year again

Check out last December's posts for the holiday cards I've made for Christmases past. Scroll down a bit.

We've started sending out this year's card, and I'll be posting it here soon, too.

this year's bday invite: five years old!

The five year-old edition: Fighting for Truth, Justice, and Candy.

bday invite, year four

Last year, his birthday party was at the New York City Fire Museum. Pretty cool place.

bday invite, year two

Like the holiday cards, I sometimes make linocut birthday invites for my son's birthday. This was the one for his second birthday, held at a gymboree.

Holiday card, 2008

Skater, 2-color linocut.

This year's model. With an assist from 2000. I guess I thought maybe it was time for something a little prettier than usual, elegant, not to say 'girly' but maybe a little less boyish than usual. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

Holiday card, 2007

Untitled, 2-color linocut on metallic card stock.

I like this one, too, another one with snowfall. But cozier, with the inside point of view. And bittersweet again, because we had to put our cat Buzz to sleep that year. Very hard. And yes, that cat is definitely based on Buzz's cuddly, pear-shaped body.

Holiday card, 2006

Drummer Boy, linocut.

My oldest brother said this was my first 'religious' card, since he interpreted it as related to the Little Drummer Boy song. Others thought it was one of those drum-playing toy monkeys, which I can also see. I don't really care either way, and in fact, made it so it could just be your generic kid who got a drum set under his tree. But I have to admit that 'Rum pum pum pum pum' was on my mind when I made it.

Holiday card, 2005

Untitled, 3-color linocut.

This is a real favorite of mine. The three colors work well, the simple image is nice, and so is the polka dot snowy sky, which I'd used before and would again. And the hat. My son had a hat like that, and that's where it all came from. And maybe also from those baby bjorns, where you carry your kid in a harness on your chest, so he's kind of right in your lower field of vision like this. So if the 2004 card was a nod to my father, 2005 was a nod to my son, who was old enough that year for his first trudge in the snow.

Holiday card, 2004

Table rod-hockey guy, linocut.

This one has gotten mixed reviews. I don't think folks always understood that it was a figure from a hockey game toy. But I still like it and stand by it. I have my reasons.

So, 2004 was a big year. I became a father. And about six weeks later, my own father died and we all were on a plane to Toledo for the funeral. My dad had seen pictures of his youngest grandson, but unfortunately, he never had the chance to meet him in person. I remember him telling me over the phone, maybe the last time we ever talked, "He looks like a character, Pack. I can tell he's a real character."

My dad was a good father and maybe even a better grandfather, as often is the case with fatherhood, maybe. And I still miss him, of course. For the card that year, I wanted to use an image from our childhood, a favorite toy that my brothers, my sister and I all played with. One Christmas, my brother received a tabletop rod-hockey game, and I remember it as a toy we all loved to play with. My brother carefully put the stickers on the little flat guys -- one team was the Bruins (his hockey team, and the team of his beloved Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito) and the other was the Blackhawks (where Phil's brother Tony played goalie). I guess partly too because we all had a soft spot, and still do, for Chicago teams, since Chicago was our mother's town.

So the hockey player relates to my dad. A Christmas gift from him that we all loved. I loved the way the puck dropped from a chute on the scorboard which arched over center ice. This card was just a private nod to Dad, from a guy who was just beginning to learn what being a dad means.

And the Peace and Joy part, I guess I just thought was a little bit funny.

Holiday card, 2003

Untitled, linocut with watercolor.

Like the reindeer, I liked the off kilter composition, especially with Santa, as if you're just getting a glimpse of him, like Bigfoot or something. This is another that was kind of labor intensive, hand coloring each one with watercolor after printing the linocut. Two different reds, two different yellows, one blue. And had to be careful because the printing ink I use [Speedball] is water soluble, too. I remember my father liked this one; he said it felt like an old fashioned illustration to him.

Holiday card, 2002

Dasher, linocut.

I wanted to do something with a simple cut line and also liked the way the fragment of the image could represent the entire animal. I'd forgotten that I'd named this one after one of the eight reindeer. Why 'Dasher?' I dunno. Seemed like a Dasher, I guess.

Holiday card, 2000 [not to be confused with Deathrace 2000]

Snow, 2-color linocut on translucent card stock.

This was printed in two colors on two sides of translucent card stock, which gives it a little bit of depth. Looking back now, I wonder if that double-sidedness doesn't have something to do with my old friend and fellow painter Tim Litzmann's work, who works in acrylics on the reverse side of plexiglass. And who I need to get back in touch with. At any rate, I was also thinking about Japanese woodcuts because of an exhibition of Hiroshige's 100 Views of Edo at the Brooklyn Museum [a show which has probably influenced my holiday cards ever since, as a matter of fact]. I still like this one a lot.

By the way, Deathrace 2000.

Holiday card, 1998

Snowman, linocut.

The second annual Christmas card was pretty straightforward and traditional, and I still like it a lot. It is self-contained, and kind of old-fashioned looking, and since it was one color, it was easy to print. I think I ran it off myself in one afternoon. It also feels very quiet and still to me, like a chilly night with a clear sky.