Flowers c. 1936

John P. Heins created this woodblock print, "Flowers," and what strikes me right away is the pure process. The black and white contrast is so bold, but it's the textures that really grab you. Look at how he's carved the lines in the vase, echoing the waves of the ocean. It's like the flowers are growing right out of the sea! And the flowers themselves, they’re not just pretty faces; they're graphic explorations of form. Heins' dense mark-making gives the image a real tactile quality. There’s this interplay between flatness and depth; your eye bounces between the solid blacks and the intricate patterns. In a way, he reminds me of someone like Emil Nolde, who wasn't afraid to push the boundaries of expression with raw, almost brutal, simplicity. Art is about seeing the world in your own way, and Heins definitely had his own vision.