Yesterday I shared with you a little about Flatbed Press in Austin. They have been recognized by arts professionals and collectors all over the United States for their contributions to the arts and the quality of their work. Here’s the link, so you can visit their website. If you are ever in Austin, make sure you visit their space.
Today I am sharing the other etching I did with them recently, “Names Written in Water.” The image can be interpreted in a number of ways. The title comes from John Keats, the English Romantic poet who is buried in the Protestant Cemetery in Rome. Dying at 25 of tuberculosis, his last request was that his tombstone bear no name or date, only the words, “Here lies One whose Name was writ in Water.” Keats was convinced that he had done nothing important in his short life. He wrote to a friend, “I have left no immortal work behind me – nothing to make my friends proud of my memory – but I have lov’d the principle of beauty in all things, and if I had had time I would have made myself remember’d. ”