Divine Fool 2

Owl

Spawned Salmon

The Divine Fool am I (at my best ), when unaware of my foolish need for approbation and what is and isn’t possible, I forge ahead and am quite simply myself. There is indeed a relationship here to the Tarot card of the fool - who, with eyes raised to the treetops, is skipping blissfully along with his dog at his heels, living in the joy of the moment and oblivious to the cliff, from which he is stepping, leaving us to ponder if indeed he is the most enlightened or the most foolish character in the deck? These are short essays, which I wrote at the urging of Vladimír Beneš. He had read several articles from my hand and encouraged me to be more ambitious - promising that he would publish it - which to his credit, he did - and did so well indeed. The contents are essentially my story: the various essays stem from experiences I garnered traveling the world and walking the woods, fishing the Canadian wilderness, poaching fish in No-man’s land between east and west block. There are ghosts and apparitions, visions and epiphanes as well as opinions on art and inspiration which I share with the reader - on why I draw and many such things which are far too personal for me to be any judge of their worth. I do feel confident that the etchings are worthy and I know that I have testified truthfully as to what I have encountered. Perhaps that will be meaningful to others as well.

Ladislav R Hanka

Swallowtail

Oak Branches

Cedar Snag: Lake Superior