Last
fall, Tina Gleason contacted to ask my permission to get a version of
my 'Reflection' linocut tattooed on her arm. She lamented that the
linocut itself is no longer available. It's unusual for me, but
Reflection was a reduction linocut. That means that I first carved the
block to produce the 'background' silver layer and printed it on lovely
dark blue Japanese washi with silk fibres. Then I carved further to
produce the upper white layer. That means that 'Reflection' is limited
edition. I cannot print more since the block for the silver layer exists
no more. You may recall that
another of my prints once inspired a tattoo,
which I take as a great compliment. I was glad to hear she wanted my
blessing and very flattered that she felt so strongly that she wanted
the image permanently tattooed on her body - her first tattoo! She wrote
today to say she finally found the right tattoo artist and had the
image tattooed on her forearm by
Deirdre Doyle
in Cambridge, MA. Above you can see the original linocut, the sketch on
her arm and the final tattoo. I love how this sort of transmission of
artistic ideas, where the translation to another medium means that
something altogether new is created. To me this sort of reinvention,
especially for something non-commercial, and in fact personal and
intimate, is using the image as inspiration to create a
derivative work which I can and do welcome!
