Happy Groundhog Day!

Thermochromic Groundhog Day linocut, with and without shadow

May the weather prognosticating rodents be kind to you!

Time for some weather prognosticating rodents

Since we're catching the tail end of a blizzard here, it seemed nice to contemplate the end of winter.* We might imagine that the end of winter is in sight, and the celebrity weather-prognosticating rodents may not see their shadows next Monday, hahaha! Anyhow, I printed a new batch of thermochromic Groundhog Day linocuts, with disappearing shadows.

I'll be busy on Groundhog Day, myself. Etsy Canada is hosting another Summit, here in Toronto, for team Captains and Leaders from coast to coast. I ought to get cracking on my presentation.

*Apparently, we'll avoid getting really dumped with snow (unlike our neighbours to the south) because it's too cold and windy here. Um... I guess we're lucky?

p.s. Good luck to those of you who aren't lucky and are expecting almost a metre of snow.

Weather Prognosticating Rodent Day

 

It's that time of year again - the day we harass the celebrity rodents and use their sense of their own shadows, or lack thereof as a cue to weather forecasting. Happy Groundhog Day!

Groundhog votes are in: Shubenacadie Sam: no shadow; Wiarton Willie: shadow; Punxsutawney Phil shadow, minouette's linocut thermochromic groundhog print: shadow. I bet my print is more accurate than some of those celebrity rodents (cough! Shubenacadie Sam). False positives (which would occur if it's above 30C or 86 F on February 2nd in Toronto) are unlikely.  

If you live near me, chances are good (as in most years) that there will be 6 more weeks of winter, beyond the 2nd of February, but I do hope that your weather is not too harsh and may even be enjoyable whereever you are.

Happy Groundhog Day!

Groundhog votes are in: Shubenacadie Sam: shadow; Wiarton Willie: no shadow; Punxsutawney Phil no shadow, minouette's linocut thermochromic groundhog print: shadow. I bet my print is more accurate than some of those celebrity rodents. False positives (which would occur if it's above 30C or 86 F on February 2nd in Toronto) are unlikely. Happy Groundhog Day!

Everybody's favorite prognosticating rodents

It's mid-January and that can only mean one thing. Yes, it's time to print a second edition of my groundhog linocut with disappearing thermochromic shadow. It's important to celebrate absurd holidays. This linocut, in which the shadow cannot be seen if the ambient temperature is over 30 C (86 F), promises to act as a 6-more-weeks-of-winter-prognotication tool, as accurate as any celebrity rodent, this February 2nd, or Groundhog Day. No shadow, no more winter, the adage goes and I think my print is unlikely to give a false positive. If the ambient temperature is above 30 C, chances are indeed very good that your winter is over you've unwisely decided to hang art in your sauna.

Happy Groundhog Day!

Well, it's that time of year again, midway between Solstice and Equinox, when we turn to the weather prognosticating rodents to assess of chances of better weather. Since this part of Ontario has been spared much winter at all, it may not surprise you to learn that Wiarton Willie (technically, Wee Willie, as the original, or at least, most recent albino Wiaton Willie is desceased) and his Nova Scotia cohort Shubenacadie Sam both did not see their shadows this morning. If you believe the (wildly inaccurate*) weather prognostication of rodents, readers south of the border may be dismayed that Pennsylvania’s Punxsutawney Phil disagrees, having observed his own shadow. However, this year, thanks to the positive phase of the Arctic Oscillation much of North America has had low snow cover and warmer-than-average temperatures. So, for once, I think that there has not been much winter to speak of, and the Canadian groundhogs may actually be right.

The photo, of course, is of two copies of my a groundhog and his thermochromic shadow linocut - on Japanese kozo paper 11" by 12.5" (28 cm by 31.8 cm). The shadow on the left has been heated, and thus it disappeared. So the print itself serves as a prognosticating groundhog for Groundhog Day! If the shadow is heated above 30°C (86 F) then it turns colourless. And let's face it; if it's February 2, and your artwork is > 30°C (86 F) you either a) live in the tropics north of the equator b) live in the Southern Hemisphere or c) need to turn the thermostat down ASAP. So, there's a pretty good chance that this print can accurately predict that there will not be 6 more weeks of winter (to a degree of accuracy at least comparable to any celebrity rodent).

*Estimated at 37% accuracy

Groundhog

Ah yes, September. When the nights get cooler and thoughts naturally turn to ... Groundhog Day. That's right. This might seem an unseasonable offering (winter is coming), but, you see, I like Groundhog Day because it's perfectly absurd. Here we are in our allegedly modern country, prognosticating weather by harassing celebrity rodents (Wiarton Willie, Shubenacadie Sam,...). Further, this is Canada. Unless you live in Victoria (and possibly Vancouver), if it's February 2, you don't need a groundhog to tell you there will be 6 more weeks of winter.* If you live south of the border, anywhere near the most famous American prognosticating groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, the same is true. Shadow or no shadow, winter ain't over on the 2^nd of February.



Every year, I write something for Groundhog Day. Every year, I think I should make a print for the occasion, but I never do in time. Well, I got the jump on 2012. These are two copies of a block print of a groundhog - and his shadow - on Japanese kozo paper 11" by 12.5" (28 cm by 31.8 cm). The shadow is printed with thermochromic ink, so when heated it disappears! Whether the groundhog can see his shadow is determined by temperature. The cool blue state and hot colourless state are both shown. So the print itself serves as a prognosticating groundhog for Groundhog Day! If the shadow is heated above 30^oC (86 F) then it turns colourless. And let's face it; if it's February 2, and your artwork is > 30^oC (86 F) you either a) live in the tropics north of the equator b) live in the Southern Hemisphere or c) need to turn the thermostat down ASAP. So, there's a pretty good chance that this print can accurately predict that there will not be 6 more weeks of winter (to a degree of accuracy at least comparable to any celebrity rodent).



I bet you thought I would try to sneak in the word 'prognosticating' again.

*Conversely, if you live on the left coast, and there are crocuses coming up in your garden, you do not need a celebrity rodent's shadow to give you leave to laugh at the blizzards to the east of you.

Happy Groundhog Day!

Since I have yet to make any sort of groundhog art, I hope you will accept this other urban animal greetings instead. Actually, I keep envisioning a comic with three squares. In the first square there is a groundhog which comes out in broad daylight and sees no shadow with the legend 'sees no shadow, winter is over!' In the second square is an intimidated groundhog running from its shadow and the legend 'sees shadow: 6 more weeks of winter.' In the third panel is frozen mound of of vaguely groundhog-shaped snow with the legend 'see no groundhog: ....'

So yes, we have snow, but really, it strikes me as neither disasterous, nor monstrous, nor surprising, but I guess it gives the media an excuse for melodrama. I hope you are having a snow day, should you be in the wake of this storm, and that all the melodrama is on your television, not in your life.

High Five for the Groundhog

A big shout out to the working animals today, even if they saw their shadows, because it must be hard to be a celebrity rodent, awoken once a year for prognostication. Even the raccoons agree.

This is a first edition lino block print on Japanese kozo (mulberry) paper 15" by 8 3/8" (38 cm by 21.3 cm) - one of six. Perhaps you recall my former neighbour? The svelte, young, inexperienced raccoon? (We have some raccoons in this town easily twice his size.)

Some details:

Happy Groundhog Day

OK. I confess. That is actually a bouncing lemming from the magpie & whiskeyjack post about Frida Fjellman... but Groundhog Day in this part of the world, with this particular winter, is quite the joke, isn't it? I mean, regardless of shadows and superstitions, we all know, winter ain't going nowhere. Really. Though, if rodents provide some entertainment, who am I to judge?

Also, how is it possible that it is February already?