Favicon

If you view this site on a laptop or add it to your favorites on your phone, (hint!) you’ll see a little image called a favicon in your favorites list or in your browser tab. The icon is a linocut I created as a fine art printmaking student at the University of North Texas in the 90s.

An obvious choice for this project, the image was originally based on my own 1976 childhood drawing saved by my mother, whose handwriting you can see stating my name, age and the year. When I found my own five year old version of a tree, I immediately wanted to “copy” my style.

While in college, I worked part-time at a preschool/daycare with two and three year olds. I loved all these sweet kiddos and even made lifetime friends with one of the families I met there. Watching these kids draw and paint fascinated me.

Art school, with so many talented students, often nudged me into comparison mode, which works against creativity and fuels self doubt. Seeing the concentration and confidence with which these toddlers made deliberate marks on their paper was revitalizing.
I let go of trying to make realistic, technically perfect drawings and starting embellishing playful doodles with patterns and texture, turning them into finished works. 

Finding and recreating my childhood creation brought everything full circle from admiring these self-assured kids to building my self worth. Using it for this project brings new life to a relic from my days as a young artist.