"Fox and Mouse" (There But For the Grace of God)

 

Fox and Mouse (There But For the Grace of God) 
Watercolors and water-based ink on snow white Canford paper 
Hashira-e (28 x 4.5 inches) 
Edition of 34 

This is my print for the 100th Exchange for the Baren Forum for Woodblock printmaking. It was supposed to be a Mokuhanga print. This is a traditional Japanese technique for woodblock printmaking which involves water-based pigments which are brushed on, printing with a traditional baren, multiple colors with careful registration, and using Washi paper. This print is more inspired by traditional Japanese printmaking as I do not have any formal training in Mokuhanga and don't have all the traditional tools and supplies. That said, I'm very happy with these results!

The background colors for this print are the most in line with Mokuhanga - they were brushed on watercolors, hand printed with my trusty wooden spoon. I tried a couple with my glass Iron Frog baren, but it didn't work as well as my spoon. The fox, mouse, and coneflowers were printed in 2 layers, both with water-based block printing ink which I did roll on with a brayer and then print with the spoon again. I thought about trying to do it all as brushed on watercolors, but that wasn't going to work out as well with the drawing I have come up with, so I went with the method that I thought would serve the image better. 

Sadly, the only reason the paper is Canford and not a type of Washi is because I'm broke. I'm a teacher who gets paid much less for 2 months in the summer and I got 2 teens who eat like adults. I had this lovely Canford paper in my studio and it is soft yet strong and didn't distort after being wetted, so it seemed a suitable alternative. 

Regarding the paper dimensions and imagery, what I enjoyed the most about this exchange was the challenge of coming up with a drawing that would fit into the tall, skinny rectangle. Even though I live in the city, we have a lot of foxes that I've seen stalking around at night on occasion. And of course mice are always a problem in big cities. I deliberately drew the pouncing fox smaller so it would seem that he is farther away and thus focused on some other prey outside of our view. The subtitle refers to the little mouse hiding behind the flower - she is safe at least for the moment. 

"August Afternoon" by Gordon Hartshorne

Clouds float by, waves swell 
Sea or sky, it matters not 
Wind blows, determined. 

What a treat to discover the colorful woodcuts of Gordon Hartshorne just as I've been printmaking more with watercolors and introducing a painterly quality into many of my own woodcuts. Hartshorne was a printmaker who truly managed to make painterly woodcuts. He used the Japanese technique of wood block printmaking (moku-hanga) so he applied water-based pigments with brushes and hand-printed with a baren.

The artist died in 2004, but the website devoted to his artistic career is a wonderful resource for viewing many more of his wonderful woodcuts and learning about his life and work.

Two Views of Nihonbashi: Junichiro Sekino and Utagawa Hiroshige

The first print shown here is Nihonbashi by Junichiro Sekino and the second is Clear Weather after Snow at Nihonbashi Bridge by Utagawa Hiroshige.

I sit here pondering how to cross the divide.

I look above and listen to the revs of countless engines and the continuous whoosh of unseen cars overhead. There is a bit of yellow and blue, but all else is a grey hum. It is a place I have been to many times before and will be again. A place where everyone simultaneously waits, feeling small and powerless, but with a heightened awareness of an unceasing journey through space and time.


I shift my eyes to the image below, and I see more, but things are quieter. I am far away; a witness in the distance. This is not a place I've ever set foot. The sounds of nature form an auditory backdrop in the same way that the mountain and distant trees and sky form the visual background.

Again, there is blue, and hints of red, but mostly all is grey and bleached and impersonal. As with the other, there is the sense of a steady movement forward, this time more leisurely - footsteps, gliding boats - but every bit as ephemeral.

"We are ghosts, hungry for something bigger than what our lips are kissing." -Anis Mojgani 

[Baren] Exchange #63: Two Flower Prints

This is a part 2 of 2, highlighting a few of my favorite prints from [Baren] Exchange #63. I wrote about my print for this exchange - In the Tent With Bunny - last month. The technique for this exchange was "Moku-hanga in the tradition of Japanese printmaking". The theme was open. The paper size was 7.5" x 10".

Today I feature two prints of flowers, which I thought offered a particularly striking contrast with each other. The first is Narcissus by Andrew Stone. (He wrote about this print on his own art blog, which can be found here.) The second Rudbeckia by Abel Dewitz (whose website can be found here.) 

Stone's image is so bold with its arresting yellow background. The black outlines are broad yet articulate.  The flower's stem soars up assertively. New buds bide their time at the pinnacle beyond the frame, while the mature blossoms survey all that is below them, wide-eyed and fearless. 

Dewitz's flowers are completely different. They have no outlines, only shadows. They breezily sway over a misty horizon. They are past their prime with regards to blooming; the pedals that remain are brown and hang low. And yet, they are no less beautiful for their advanced age because with their withered pedals they have learned new and graceful poses for the artist to study. While Stone's flower effortlessly crosses the border of the picture-plane, Dewitz's have no border to cross. They dance in a scene that is quiet and mysterious in its hazy vastness. 

[Baren] Exchange #63: Three Landscapes

This is a part 1 of 2, highlighting a few of my favorite prints from [Baren] Exchange #63. I wrote about my print for this exchange - In the Tent With Bunny - last month. The technique for this exchange was "Moku-hanga in the tradition of Japanese printmaking". The theme was open. The paper size was 7.5" x 10".

Today I spotlight three landscapes that I especially enjoyed. Also, as is pretty common on this blog, everybody gets a haiku. 

This first print is The Mountain Is Out! by Achim Nicklis. In his comments he mentioned that it is Mt Rainier as seen during nice weather in Seattle. I love the simplicity of the composition, including the full bleed printing and the texture in the sky and mirrored in the water. Those who want to see more of his prints can check out the [Baren] exchange archives. 

It's a big, wide world
With far-flung oceans and skies. 
I focus on you. 

This second print is Painted Village by Anne van Oppen, which I was drawn to in no small way because I'm venturing more into white line printmaking myself. She used watercolors and painted/printed each section one at a time, in true Provincetown printmaking fashion. She also has some wonderful printmaking demonstration videos in collaboration with Lisa Toth which can be viewed on YouTube. 

I watch the houses 
Such happy colors 
This is the way life should be 

The third print is Moon Setting Over Red Barn by Bridget Pilip Murphy. I love the colors used for the layers of landscape receding back and the balance between the moon and barn. It is relaxing for me to look at this image. 

Rainbow horizon 
Seems the earth is a body 
With curves like my own 

Highlights from [Baren] Exchange #62

 These are three prints by other artists who also participated in  [Baren] Exchange #62. I wrote about the print I made for this exchange back in October. It was my first trade through [Baren], an international forum for woodblock printmakers. The prints I received were all wonderful (featured here are just my three absolute favorites) and many are destined to end up framed and on the walls of my house. I am eager to receive my prints from exchange #63 and to participate in future exchanges. 

This first linocut is Lake Lookalike by Achim Nicklis. Many more of Nicklis's wonderful prints can be found in the [Baren] exchange archives. 

Light rakes down, and yet
The image resides inside 
The seer's stilled mind 



The second is a Japanese-style woodblock print titled Texting by George Jarvis. In addition to being beautifully executed, the reference to both modern technology in our everyday lives and the moku hanga tradition of depicting "beautiful women", often nude and in a domestic scene, made me smile. A friend of mine suggested it should have been titled Sexting. 

Mind and fingers race 
Words on a screen, and
It is as if you are here 

This third print, a 2 block linocut, is Backyard by Clive Lewis, who you can learn all about on his website here. 

Jumble heaves a sigh, while
Structures settle and sink 
A white shirt dangles 

"In the Tent With Bunny"

I made this for a print exchange: [Baren] Exchange #63. The image is 4.5" x 7.5" and the paper is 7.5" x 10". It is printed in oil-based ink on Sulphite block printing paper. I made an edition of 22 for the exchange and 2 artist's proofs, although I can make more since this is a 2 block print, rather than a reduction.

The theme for this exchange was Moku-hanga (in the spirit of Japanese printmaking.) I spent some time way over-thinking that theme and starting two other sketches and plans for prints before I settled on this one. In my frustration and indecision, I finally just spent some time looking at Moku-hanga print, both from Japanese and International artists, and then followed my intuition. The result is this image of my three-year-old daughter playing with her toy bunny in a tent after a bath.

Admittedly, this is not Moku-hanga in terms of technique and materials because the ink I used is oil-based instead of water-based, and it was rolled on with a brayer instead of painted on. (It simply was not in my budget this holiday season to purchase a whole new set of printmaking inks.) But I think it fits the spirit of Japanese printmaking through the use of vivid colors and translucency, and the subject which makes modern reference to the ukiyo-e (scenes from the floating world) style of wood block printing, with a girl depicted in a domestic scene.