Fox on Ice
04/01/23
Linocut, 2 plates
"...one must move warily, like an old fox walking over ice is proverbial in China. His ears are constantly alert to the cracking of the ice, as he carefully and circumspectly searches out the safest spots. A young fox who as yet has not acquired this caution goes ahead boldly, and it may happen that he falls in and gets his tail wet when he is almost across the water. Then of course his effort has been all in vain. Accordingly, in times 'before completion' deliberation and caution are the prerequisites of success."
-- The I Ching, Wilhelm/Baynes Translation
A Cold, Red Nose
03/30/23
Like many, I have the affliction of poor circulation. At least with fingers and toes, you can attempt to warm your icecicular extremities with socks or gloves. But a nose? It's just ... out there. As I endure my 9th Chicago winter, my Rudolph presentation is frequent and pretty much unavoidable. One day my partner Bo (a conversely warm-blooded individual) spotted my cold, red nose and drew his face in reeeal close to my face. He then enveloped my nose in his eye socket region, kind of like a car going into a heated garage. He held this position until my face returned to a normal shade. I've never seen anyone do that. It's probably a very silly thing to witness, muchless experience. But it also does the trick and it's now just a thing. For some reason this popped into my head as a good animation experiment.