Fun with Max Beckmann

Being newly retired from the workplace and having never taken a workshop at the Portland Museum of Art, I signed up for the two session workshop on block printing. I had done linoleum blocks in the past, but it had been a while. The workshop turned out to be an absolute gas. The Portland Museum of Art workshop leader, Julia Einstein, was quite knowledgeable and a good facilitator. We sketched directly onto two small Soft Kut blocks (see above) using the Max Beckman exhibit, Final Days - Modernism and Masquerade: Max Beckmann (1884 - 1950), as inspiration or subject. Herr Beckmann is a little too dark and anguished for me, but his work is definitely "expressive." We then did a white line block cut and a relief cut, and went to press on both rice paper and cotton paper - all in two 2 hour sessions. Ms. Einstein said there will be a watercolor workshop this fall based on an upcoming Winslow Homer exhibit at the Portland Museum of Art. Something to consider.