Netsuke - The Foxes Carve & Print

FoxesGampi.jpg

I'm back in the studio carving the foxes. As I carve the block I realise I am not focused. The lens in my brain turns slowly anticlockwise and my mind can't catch up with what's in front of me. My hands are restless and eager to carve but too quickly and impatiently. I'm not present and take a chunk out of a tail, then another tail, then a hip, then a toe but I keep going and finish carving until I have something to print. I dampen a few small squares of Hosho paper for some test prints and print off a few to check the image. It's not as bad as I imagined and even with the mistakes I like the feel of the print.

FoxesWoodCarving.jpg
FoxesPrint.jpg
Like the vastness of space, like a universe unlimited, untold, unattainable, and inscrutable- that is the woodcut.
— Shiko Munakata