Work in Progress - May 2004

New Home, New Work!

It has been two years since the "works in progress" pages have been updated. The reason for this involves a change of job, and of city of residence, among other things. The changes have all been positive ones, but very time-consuming. To sum up, I moved from San Antonio to El Paso, Texas, and joined the faculty of the University of Texas at El Paso. In 2003 I bought my own printing press (a small one, capable of making images about 8 by 10 inches in size). In 2004 I bought a second printing press, one capable of pulling images up to 16 by 20 inches in size.

I also returned to performing, acting in Shakespeare plays and dancing as "grandpapa" in the UTEP Ballet's Nutcracker performances.

The artist in Drosselmeyer costume at UTEP's Nutcracker 2003.

The return to my El Paso home included a return to my relationship with the UTEP Ballet (formerly Ballet El Paso). With free access to the backstage, rehearsals, and classes, I was able to sketch at will, leading to a proliferation of new drawings and prints. In the image above, I am sketching in the wings during a performance of Sleeping Beauty. A long-time friend of mine can be seen in her costume as the Lilac Fairy...and elsewhere among several of the new drawings and prints on these pages - including the image below.

"Lilac 1" copper engraving (2004)

Dressing Room Sketch 1 (2004), a copper intaglio drypoint made on the new press, April, 2004.

Dancer's Torso 1 (2004), a copper intaglio drypoint made in April, 2004. Many of the new works have a rough, sketchy quality that feature the drypoint technique's rich tonality. In many cases I have turned to sketching with diamond-tipped tools directly onto copper plates, bypassing studies on paper.

Link to the previous May 2002 Work in Progress Page

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