This continues my Berlin-themed holiday card series: Eckkneipe with waiting dog – both, to me, are Berlin. Since working on this card, I have become obsessed with old Berlin signage, especially neon script. More of that to come (at some point)!
These two foxes were the subject of my Japanese woodblock print / new year’s card last year. They’re all about play. They’re friends and maybe they’re in love (no one is sure). I love Berlin’s foxes and how they have an independent life alongside the human residents of this city. I think they probably play a lot at night when people aren’t looking.
This is what you see on the front of the card (when folded):
Working at the Druckatelier in Berlin (http://www.druckatelier.eu/)
This year’s etching was inspired by my heroes of the Berlin streets, bike messengers. This ecologically mobile Santa is speeding past the Brandenburg Gate, heading south with a bag full of happiness for the new year.
This is a three-plate etching with parts in drypoint and mezzotinto.
inking the plate
press at VHS Kreuzberg
Druckwerkstatt at Bethanien Berlin
beautiful press at Druckwerkstatt Bethanien
the other two plates ready to print
My most recent card, with Berlin landmarks on the skyline. Two-plate etching. 12.5 x 7.5.
A Trabi (Trabant, the old East German car) with Berlin license plates and a very big Christmas tree. 12.5 x 7.5 cm.
I produced personalized versions of my 2009 card for myself and customers. This was a three-plate print – the Luftpost sticker was a tiny individual plate and the envelope was handwritten. The model was the Jugendstil mail slot on my apartment door. I admire the water lilies every time I open it. 12.5 x 7.5 cm.
The World Clock on Alexanderplatz was the theme of my 2008 card (it says 2009 because it’s a New Year’s card). I love the solar system rotating above. 7.5 x 12.5 cm.
This USB Christmas Tree was my first holiday card. Since 2007 I have been producing an original card each year for myself and for customers. Two-color etching / Mezzotinto. 12.5 x 7.5 cm.
One of two holiday cards in 2011. (Guten Rutsch = Have a good “slide” into the new year). A Japanese woodblock printed in a workshop at Druckatelier Berlin. I love seeing foxes around Berlin, sometimes trotting right down the sidewalk in front of my building, and imagined them playing on a Berlin playground at night. 21 x 21 cm.
Deborah Anne Bowen 