Back Porch, Queen’s Road, St. John’s, Nfld.

This is the centerpiece of my 2008 series. It measures about 9 x 11″, making it the largest print this year. I based this cut on a drawing I did back in 1988 when I spent a brilliant summer in St. John’s, Newfoundland house-sitting for my sister and writing a ghastly novel. Marie’s townhouse was on located on Queen’s Road, a central artery in the city, but still part of the distinctive jumble of brightly coloured houses that step along the steep roads climbing up from a lovely harbour. From my third storey window, I could see Signal Hill.

I smoked in those days, and as much as possible I took my bad habit out onto the back porch, which looked over an alley and what little remained of a lane from earlier decades. The back view had a lot of character, so I did a sketch which worked out well, and I presented it to Marie as a gift on her return from Toronto.

I liked all the angles and roof lines going hither and thither, with telephone lines and clothes lines criss-crossing every which way. In the original, there was only the lower line of laundry; the rest I have added in homage to the three lovely young nurses who shared the townhouse next door, and had a laundry line that went right across Marie’s back porch. So, whenever I went out for a smoke, I was frequently treated to a display of their skimpy underthingies, along with the usual apparel one finds on a line. Is there anything less unselfconscious than a clothesline? They kept strange hours – an occupational hazard, I suppose – and so did I, so our paths rarely crossed.

The original drawing is far more representational; the block cut is warped to convey, I hope, the character of the time and place, and the cooling winds that ever blew in off the Atlantic Ocean.

Not a very Christmassy post, but there you go. Best wishes to all, and hopes for a wonderful new year.

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