I have a few hobbies that I adore even though I’m just not great at them. Drawing and playing the piano are the first that come to mind. These are activities that I crave–I long to pick up a pencil and draw whatever image has popped into my head, or sit down at the piano and just… play. It can be frustrating when it doesn’t work that way. Maybe I just need more practice, or maybe it wasn’t meant to be. Somehow, though, I still love drawing and playing piano, even with no great result.

In college, I fell in love with making prints. I took the introductory printmaking class during my last semester, and immediately regretted waiting so long. We covered etching, drypoint, aquatint, monotype, and woodcut in that class–just enough to scratch the surface (etching pun not intended) and for me to now badly miss having access to that beautiful, well-stocked studio. I know too little about printmaking to jump in and buy a printing press or other big, expensive equipment; but I know enough to long to do more.

Yesterday I got restless to make something. That’s pretty common for me. This time, I borrowed some ink, a brayer and inking plate and a set of linoleum cutters. Woodcut/linocut was my least favorite of the methods I learned in college, but it was as close as I was going to get for a little last-minute project. This is the first printmaking I’ve done in nearly four years.

I didn’t create something I’m terribly proud of, and I might never use this block again, but I spent a few really pleasant hours playing around and it was really fun. Here’s to playful projects and just-for-fun hobbies!

Oh yeah, and here’s one of the resulting images. Be nice.

What hobbies do you do just for fun? Do you strive to improve or are your comfortable with the level you’re at?