101 Poppies in a Day

Every year I look forward to that one day when the poppies begin to bloom and their splashes of color emerge.

Just before summer begins, the poppies are not there one day, and the next day I suddenly see them everywhere. In the park, along the road, on the dike.
I find that fascinating. As if that one spring rain gives the final push.

Whether the sun shone just enough that day that all those poppies collectively thought, “This is the moment. A magical moment. A moment to cherish, for a poppy blooms for only a short time.

For me, making the poppy etchings was a study of the appearance form of the poppy and at the same time an investigation of the different possibilities within the graphic etching technique to get an image on the etching plate. Experiment with the techniques directly on the etching plate. Sometimes a poppy no longer came about with the certainty that the subject was the poppy but took shape under the impulse of my hand that knew what to do in forming the image. A physical expression of my curiosity.