The completed artwork is a framed and matted linocut print, depicting a giant water bug (also known as a toe-biter) adorning a crown. It is an ode to the giant water bug described in the opening chapter of Annie Dillard’s Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. The bug is printed in black ink, and the crown is a mixture of copper and gold. The image was printed (or ‘transferred’) from the carved linoleum block onto patterned rice paper. The rice paper has small green flakes, leaves, and plants/pieces of vegetation which make the work much more dynamic and interesting to look at. I like the playful background and its relevance to the text.

The artwork itself (linocut on rice paper) measures 8.5 inches wide by 11 inches tall. The artwork is double-matted; the bottom mat is thin and gold, and the top mat is black and thicker. The matted artwork fits in a black frame measuring 11 inches wide by 14 inches tall.

If I have the opportunity, I would love to submit a higher resolution photo for the archive! Unfortunately, I do not currently have access to a high-quality camera but can make quick arrangements prior to/during GOFest to have an artist friend photograph it for me. I am just not totally pleased with the quality of the uploaded image I must provide here!!! I should possibly try to photograph the framed art piece but remove the glass first.

This piece is both scientific and symbolic. As stated earlier, it is an homage to the giant water bug that Dillard so horrifically describes feeding on a green frog in the first chapter of the book. I’ve returned to this moment not just as a biologist, but as a contemplative observer and artist. Linocut, with its brutal physicality – carving, gouging, reversing, inking – feels like the right medium for this subject.

This piece is both scientific and symbolic. To the viewer – is a very strong and striking portrait of a “scary bug”. As an aquatic biologist, I know the species, the feeding behavior, the anatomy. But as an artist and reader of Pilgrim of Tinker Creek, I’m reaching towards something more unsettling – the ecological truth that beauty and horror are intertwined.

As a water quality monitoring specialist and aquatic biologist, I spend much of my life immersed in places that most people overlook – streams, ditches, underneath bridge crossings, swamps, the slow churn of life at the edge of water. My scientific work demands precision, attention, and patience. It feels almost ritualistic to be observing things so closely and intimately.

I was nervous to attempt an ode to the giant water bug, because they are not very well known or recognizable to the general public. When getting some feedback on some of my test prints, I got the question “Is that a stinkbug?” as well as comments “oh I love your beetle”, and so on. After this, I decided to increase my print size from 4 inches by 6 inches to 8.5 inches by 11 inches. Going bigger allowed me to provide more details and take some artistic liberties with some of the anatomical features (including extending out the feeding “sucking” mouthparts) to help the bug become more distinctive from a beetle or stink bug.

This is my favorite book; it literally changed my life. It was a wonderful experience to be a part of the City’s book club over the winter of 2025 and engage with other lovers of the text. I had the unique opportunity to lead one of the book club sessions, where I focused on Dillard’s description of insects and other aquatic critters. I was able to bring in aquatic and terrestrial insect specimens from my personal collection and share my love of bugs with the class. Because of my background in local water quality monitoring efforts, I was able to provide some information related to current water quality status status and monitoring efforts taking place in the watershed, and right here in our beloved Tinker Creek!

I always enjoy revising Dillard’s first chapter, to the scene where the frog is consumed by the giant water bug … “I had read about the giant water bug, but never seen one. “Giant water bug” is really the name of the creature, which is an enormous, heavy-bodied brown bug. It eats insects, tadpoles, fish, and frogs. Its grasping forelegs are mighty and hooked inward. It seizes a victim with these legs, hugs it tight, and paralyzes it with enzymes injected during a vicious bite. That one bite is the only bite it ever takes. Through the puncture shoot the poisons that dissolve the victim’s muscles and bones and organs–all but the skin–and through it the giant water bug sucks out the victim’s body, reduced to a juice. This event is quite common in warm fresh water. The frog I saw was being sucked by a giant water bug. I had been kneeling on the island grass; when the unrecognizable flap of frog skin settled on the creek bottom, swaying, I stood up and brushed the knees of my pants. I couldn’t catch my breath.”

It is unforgettable and iconic scene, and my goal was to give it powerful visual life, especially during the 50+ year celebration of the text.

While learning this new medium, I have learned a lot (and continue to learn) about the appropriate ways to handle and hold the carving tools, how to create or reduce “chatter” or background noise depending on the desired look, and the force required to carve to the depth you want to. While starting out, I accidentally carved too deep and cut through to the other side of the block. I would like to learn more about different methods artists may use to fix mistakes or make repairs to damaged linoleum, or if artists just start completely over. Linoleum can be an unforgiving surface! I have also learned the importance of having good quality equipment – I am looking to upgrade to better, sustainably-sourced carving tools, which can also be used for woodcarving (!), and will also be immediately switching to battleship grey linoleum, which is the only type of truly biodegradable linoleum out there. It’s important for me to have the tools I need to achieve the look that I want, while feeling good about the purchases I’m making.

I have been asking myself how I can achieve a multi-layer print or different colored ink/gradient type of prints. Next, I want to challenge myself to learn and attempt more advanced techniques with this medium, including the reduction method (where a single block is carved and printed multiple times with different colors), multiblock method (where each color is carved on a separate block), and using mixed-media elements. I really loved the way the print turned out on the rice paper and would love to learn how to find more of this material and how to make/manipulate my own using different natural materials (vegetation, plant pigments, etc.).

Printmaking is an entirely new medium for me, so linocut has been a little intimidating to learn. I feel very fortunate to live in an apartment complex on the banks of the Roanoke River, where I have many creative and active neighbors. Two of these neighbors (Tina Gregory and Danette Wiseman High) hosted a linocut workshop in the lobby of our building, where we were asked to bring $10 to cover supplies, and come prepared with a concept to carve within a two-hour period. In typical fashion, I chose a too-complicated design to be completed in the allotted time. I chose the American Eel for my first ever design, which I traced from an image using tracing paper. I transferred the graphite from the tracing paper by rubbing directly onto the linoleum block and then began carving out the “negative” spaces. Because I did not finish during the scheduled time but really enjoyed the process, I decided to purchase some Speedball linoleum blocks and beginners carving tools of my own. When they arrived, I was able to finish carving up the Eel and also design & carve my first test version of “Tinker Toebiter”. This version was carved on a 4 inch by 6 inch pink linoleum block and included the giant water bug with his crown framed by a border. My neighbors Tina and Danette helped me print the test “Toebiter” and the eel onto sheets of paper, and I really loved how the test version of the “Tinker Toebiter” turned out. It inspired me to keep going with this medium and to pursue bigger challenges, such as carving into a larger block of linoleum!