ABOUT THE COVER ARTIST William Hays

Artist William Hays strives to create linocuts that transcend the beauty he represents and, once in a while, feels he achieves this goal. &emsp;"I want to create something so beautiful that it touches you and warms your heart," he says. &emsp;Hays, of Turners Falls, Massachusetts, has always loved being outdoors, where the landscape is the foundation of his inspiration. &emsp;Although his Bachelor of Fine Arts is in sculpture, he spent years working first as a watercolor artist and later as an oil painter. Making a living this way was challenging because the number and frequency of sales were unpredictable. &emsp;His late wife, Patricia, had encouraged him in 2007 to create something more affordable than oil paintings, providing him with the tools to experiment with linocut printing. &emsp;He was delighted with the excitement of creating linocut prints, developing and refining his self-taught skill. By 2012, he exclusively created linocut or woodcut prints. &emsp;Hays makes what are called reduction prints. This involves continually reducing the surface area of a linoleum or wood block by sequentially carving just one block multiple times, he explains. He applies oil-based ink to the carved block with a brayer roller, lays his paper on top of that and puts it through an etching press, transferring the image. &emsp;After applying each color, the paper dries, and he cleans the block. He then carves the parts of it that will remain that color, continuing this process with each shade used, progressing from light to dark shades. This adds to the design's complexity. &emsp;"Reductionist prints are ridiculously complicated, but I've done it enough that I have a degree of faith that I can figure it out," he explains. &emsp;Although he creates multiple prints of one design, factors such as aligning each one and pulling it through the press by hand make them all unique originals, with the slightest variations. &emsp;While Picasso is credited with the development of reduction prints, they were actually being produced in England in the early 20th century, he notes. &emsp;The two basic facets of linocuts are color and structure, he explains. The colors establish the mood of the piece, and the carving establishes the structure. &emsp;"The fact that I have the privilege of making a living as an artist makes me feel grateful every morning when I wake up; I get to do what I love and people pay me for it," Hays says. &emsp;He says that during his retirement years, he works eight, 10, or even 12 hours a day. He does this because he chooses to, not because he has to. The joyful newlywed can take a day off to visit a museum or go on another adventure with his bride, Nina, at any time. &emsp;Among his long list of past showings, prizes, and often juried exhibitions, his more recent solo exhibitions include "Carving a Voice in Prints" at the Silver Circle Gallery in Putnam, Connecticut and "Carving Clouds" at the Copley Society of Art in Boston, Massachusetts. &emsp;"Clouds," he says, "are one of the most magical things there are," he says.