Highlights from [Baren] Exchange #68 (Part 2 of 4)

This the second of four posts highlighting prints from  Baren Forum's #68 Exchange. The theme was "Nudes", and the paper size was 8" x 8". The first post can be found here. 

Second: wet feet, their backs turned  
Featuring Poolside by Lisa Toth (above) and Nude by the Water by Julio Rodriguez (below.)

Again, two prints with many similarities: a single woman, seemingly alone, her back to the viewer looking out into gently rippling waters. Inevitably many prints of nudes include water seeing as bathing and sometimes swimming are activities done naked. When I look at these prints, I cannot help but imagine how the cool, moving water feels against my own feet and legs.

The difference between these two, as with the two prints I featured yesterday, is about the relationship between the figure and her setting. The first woman sits on the edge of a pool, arms crossed, a towel or blanket behind her. She seems to have already swam and is now quietly resting. She is more still, more dry, and more in her own head. The second woman is moving. Both prints feature ripples, but in the second the ripples are a consequence of the figure's movement and thus, they encircle her. She isn't in between events, she is part of the action. 

Highlights from Baren Exchange #67 (Part 3 of 3)

Check out post 1/3 about Baren Print Exchange #67 here, and post 2/3 here. 

This untitled woodcut is by Lisa Toth. 

Hello, my friend  
I see we both bow to see the 
Upsidedown world  

"Winter Birds" by Lisa Toth

Image posted with the permission of the artist. View and purchase more of Lisa Toth's prints at her Etsy store. I wrote previously about one of Toth's prints here. 

The moon shines on a staircase of plump, resident birds. They prefer the cold (up to a certain limit, of course), it's an excuse to rest. Also, winter chases off the riffraff, and then these stalwarts can enjoy the hidden bounty of the season in peace and solitude. 

Moonlight, not near as warm or bright as the sun, but beautiful and mysterious with its silver rays. 

Lisa Toth's "Bunny"

Image posted with the permission of the artist. View and purchase more of Lisa Toth's prints at her Etsy store. 

Had I not happened to glance directly at her, I might have never noticed her there, neatly couched in a bed of grass. Does she know I'm watching? Would she run if she did? I wonder, too, if these life and death games of hide and seek are taken in routine stride, or rather, an insurmountable barrier to a life of total bliss. I wish I could tell her that I'm no owl or bobcat, no threat to her rest and playful romps. Her nose twitches. Her ears lay back. I walk away at a casual pace.