"Climbing Into the Crib"

4 layer reduction woodcut. Image is 8" x 10", oil-based inks on white, sulphite block printing paper. 

When she was a baby I made several prints of her from behind, such as this, and they often seemed to symbolize her move to the next plateau as something effortless and inevitable. In one I even gave her wings. Even when she wasn't moving onto the next, grand thing, the chosen colors often made her seem to happily glow, such as here. 

Now she's older. Her legs are longer, and while sometimes they are graceful, often they are unfamiliar and get in the way. She doesn't fit in places she used to fit. These colors signal alarm, as now she is increasingly aware of the dangers around her. Her wings are also gone, and now she must climb.