"The White Cat" by Arthur Rigden Read

I've been posting a lot of woodcuts and wood engravings that are very complicated, with lots of little details. So I decided I needed a breather. A little air to move around in. And I found it in this simple print of a cat by Arthur Read. The way the bottom of the tail is cropped, and the excess amount of space above the cat reminds me of snapshots. How amateur photographers almost always shoot the photo from their own eye level, and therefore end up cutting off their subjects at the feet while leaving so much extra space above their heads. Here, of course, the cropping is intentional. The cat seems weighted to the black surface, while the sunshine-colored wall behind him seems cheery and open, despite the cat's pensive expression. Cats always seem pensive.

"The Strangers at the Gate" by Arthur Rigden Read

Normally I am annoyed with solicitors, but every once in a while someone comes by with a child. A very young child can't fake cheerfulness or interest, nor can their caretaker bullshit very easily while handling them, and so I pull down my defenses, greet them politely, and listen to what they have to say. He's an especially pretty child with a heart-shaped, cherubic smile. His mother, plain-but-pretty, is rather eager, but not pushy. With her thick, wavy hair, broad face, and relaxed expression (as if to say, "Well aren't those lovely roses in your garden.") she reminds me of a favorite aunt when she was a young mother. I observe the interaction between parent and child. I see the tenderness in her gaze and the way she bounces him on her hip; the two seem as if they have always been together. It doesn't matter what they are selling or if I decide to buy. These are just a couple of people at my gate, and we're talking to each other under the sun and clouds and invisible stars.