Post #685160 by Tiki Shark Art on Mon, Jul 8, 2013 8:49 PM

Well, all I will say is Earl is one colorful character. He was also one of the most dedicated artists I ever met. I was amazed at the great lengths he would go to just to acquire the perfect, aged paper from the right kind of mill, for his beloved prints, he would make one at a time, on his giant iron monstrosity of an antique press that looked like it belonged in a museum instead of a work shop. He is the last great hand carved wood block printer. It was inspirational to hear him talk about his work. However, often with artists so lost in their work, they don't quite work well in our modern rat-race world. He was truly of a different age, he followed his own rules - all to just make his art. …and fate never seemed kind to him. He would do anything to just keep making his beautiful prints, and didn't make choices the average joe would. Wow, he was anything but average. He's an artist in that deep, lost in his own world of creation, kind of way. A REAL DEAL artist, that is so rare. I was very excited to work with such a master of his craft. I think it made him all that much more interesting, and his prints that much more collectible. I think his unique, and maybe infamous, choices to survive with enough $ to just make art, raised his prints to an even higher level of "Art". If you have any of his prints, you know how beautiful they are. Sadly, health reasons have stopped him from hand carving his beloved prints. The world is cruel, we should had rewarded this artist with what ever he needed to work, but the world doesn't do that. Now it has deprived our culture of a true artist. If you can find any of his work - BUY IT!

[ Edited by: Tiki Shark Art 2013-07-08 20:54 ]