A Tale of Friendship is a multiple plate intaglio print, or series of prints chine collé to Western paper. Each image consisted of first printing several plates in various colors on the front and back of a very transparent Japanese paper and then printing the black figures to tell the story. I chose this format after reading an article where yet another artist had mentioned the Daily Comics as his first introduction to drawing and causing me to stroll memory lane a bit. I must have spent a million hours drawing Tillie the Toiler and Brenda Starr. I guess that dates me a bit. This work was at my recent show at North Bank Gallery. On opening night a very nice man who was visiting the Northwest from Hawaii was kind enough to give me a poem he had written:
The Path of Friendship
by
Bobbie Derricotté
I went to find a butterfly one bright and sunny day.
And as I walked along the path I met you on the way.
You asked, "Who are you looking for?" and I told you, "A friend".
We've walked this path for many years, and it will never end.
It tells the story much better than I could have with words and fits the imagery to a tee. I was so happy that he sought me out and shared his art with me.
The Mary Poppins business was not intended. I had seen an illustration with many umbrellas and had just completed an image of a woman with a flying machine made of two umbrellas and, let's face it! umbrellas are big business in the NW. I thought it would be wonderful to be able to just put your umbrella up and navigate to the closest Starbucks with a friend.
