Edinburgh - Sea Tea Textiles and Whiskey

I cycle the streets of Edinburgh in the sunshine, exploring the city starting at Peter's Yard cafe by Middle Meadow Walk for Swedish breakfast, then into the centre, up the Royal Mile hill towards Edinburgh Castle. I'm surprised by the lack of bike racks in the city as I see so many people cycling around but I eventually manage to find a lamp post and walk up the rest of the hill to Edinburgh Castle with views of the blue sea and the buzzing city, rooftops and roads and patchwork gardens. Inside the walls of the castle is St Margaret's chapel. Colourful textiles are laid over the alter representing the many qualities of the once reigning queen. It's still early and not many tourists have arrived yet so I make the most of the cool and peaceful space before exploring the rest of the castle a quick cup of tea and a taste of local whiskey. Back on the bike to The Fruit Market Gallery for lunch and 'Possibilities of the Object - Experiments in Modern and Contemporary Brazilian Art' exhibition.

In Search of Netsuke

I arrive at the National Museum of Scotland in search of Japanese netsuke. I'm directed to the Asia department which is quite tiny. They don't appear to have any netsuke. I'm sure I saw them on the website so ask the guide. He is not sure and points me in the direction of the Japanese Porcelain exhibition. Being optimistic I take a look. It's a tiny exhibition of Japanese ceramic pots from the late 1800s early 1900s but no netsuke. I continue to wander around the museum and find myself in a large room full of stuffed animals from monkeys and pandas, lions and tigers, polar bears and foxes, giraffes and deer. It's a dramatic landscape of dynamic shapes. Each animal frozen in action. I wonder where they once lived and how they died and how they came to be here. It's a curious place. This is Animal World and in the middle of this sea of animals stands a gigantic elephant with tusks as long as my own body and I'm reminded of these beautiful creatures continuing to be poached for their tusks only to be cut up for the benefit and demand of the consumer. I think about the netsuke and how many elephants were killed in the process to make these objects. Back at the information desk I speak to a member of staff to discover the gallery where the netsuke are displayed is closed as part of their redevelopment programme and won't be open until 2016.

Japanese Woodblock Prints at the National Gallery Scotland

It's easy enough to get lost on a bike round a busy city when the sea looks like a stones throw from the top of the hill. I cycle down the hill on my way to the National Gallery Scotland. Instead of turning left I continue straight down the hill towards the inviting sea and into Dublin Road. Dublin is my second home and although Edinburgh faces the North sea I can almost feel the Dublin air in my lungs as I breathe on my bike past the rows of Georgian terrace houses.

I climb back up the hill to the National Gallery. Through the revolving door and into the main gallery. It's hot and stuffy. I peel off my layers, hang my helmet round my bag. I'm surrounded by overwhelming mass of dramatic intensity. An overload of war and battle scenes. I race through the stifling crowd and head straight down the stairs for Scottish Art Gallery to be greeted by tranquility. A beautiful deep blue mountain in luscious landscape by the Scottish painter David Young Cameron. The gallery leads me away from the drama and into a quiet haven, through a dim lit peaceful corridor of Scottish landscapes. I can breathe again.

As I walk back up the stairs I notice I haven't seen any prints, only paintings. I ask at reception if there is a print room. Yes but you have to book an appointment. I am only here today and wonder if there is a possibility of seeing some Japanese woodblock prints today. The receptionist makes a call. She looks positive. Yes it's possible and she books an appointment for me in half an hour with Katrina.

The Print Room

A young woman has opened the door to reveal the print room. Katrina shows me where to write my name and address and to take a pencil and paper if I wish but "NO PENS" she says. I envisage the accidental collision of pen and paper. The pen gliding across an orange sunset, eventually making it's heavy dark eternal mark upon a delicate pink blossom tree. She pulls out a big green box from the shelves and on to the table. Inside the box are original Japanese prints. Katrina has studied Japanese woodblock prints from the Ukey-o period and is very knowledgeable as she talks me through each print. Each print is mounted between stiff cardboard with a sheet of plastic between the mount and the print. She lifts the mount and removes the sheets of plastic to reveal the tactile quality of delicate handmade Japanese paper. Most of these designs are by Hokusai and Hiroshige. The colours in the prints have faded and would have been much more intense when they were first printed. She explains how some of these prints are obviously reproductions and you can tell from the inaccuracy of the registration. But this is over ridden by the precise intricate fine detail in the carving. It's the first time I have seen original Japanese woodblock prints so closely. It's magical.

When we have finished looking through the box of prints Katrina brings out another big green box. This time I can look through the prints by myself. I ask if I can take photos without a flash. That is fine. The prints are mountainous, watery landscapes, bridges and rivers, people walking and working in fields and towns under deep blue skies, the rain beating down on dark inky pavements. I take a photo only to find the memory is full. Maybe it is a blessing as with no camera I spend longer looking at the prints. I absorb each scene, the delicate carving, the trees, the waves, the tiny houses, the textures, the mark making, the colours overlapping, the bokashi effect. I take a break and delete some old photos from my camera. I manage to take a few photographs of the prints and make a note of the ones that really resonate.

Shin-hanga (new prints)

I ask Katrina where all the original woodblocks are stored. She says that there aren't many left as after an edition was made, to keep the value of the prints, they would destroy the blocks. I find the wood block a piece of art in itself and I'm shocked that this was the normal procedure after spending so much time making such intricate carvings.

When I have finished looking through the second box, Katrina pulls out one more box. Inside is a huge pile of extremely delicate unmounted prints. There are many modern images (Shin-hanga) of wildlife - birds and frogs and dragonflies and it's difficult to tell which ones are ink sketches and which ones woodblock prints. Some are printed on paper as fine as tissue with holes and tears and I'm afraid to touch them incase they disintegrate. We decide to leave this box alone and I hope that someone will take time to carefully mount them so one day they can be viewed properly.

I thank Katrina for giving me the time to explore the prints and we say goodbye. Downstairs in the main hall the sun has disappeared. Behind the great glass window panes the snow is falling reminding of the beautiful print 'Night Rain at Makura' by Hiroshige.

Boats in the Sand - A Reduction Woodblock Print

Here are the results of my reduction print. The boats in the original sketches were actually in a lake but as we chose colours it felt right to have a rusty mustard and pinky pigment around the boats suggesting sand rather than water. I was quite overwhelmed by which areas to cut and which to leave at each stage but Paul was extremely helpful all the way through the process so I managed to get quite a nice result for my first 4 colour reduction print. It was quite liberating to explore the process of reduction printing and I spent more time printing than carving which is just what I wanted.

I also had extra time to carve and print another image. This time carving abstract shapes directly on to the block being more aware of my carving technique rather than worry about the composition. With the first print I accidentally printed the second colour the wrong way round but it was a happy accident as it showed me what can happen when over layering different colours.

Boats in the Sand - Japanese Woodblock Print

I recommend this wonderful Japanese woodblock printing course with Paul Furneaux. He has a wealth of experience and a brilliant tutor. A fantastic weekend! Thank you Paul and the team at Edinburgh Printmakers. Oh and I also picked up this lovely guide to Edinburgh written by locals for visitors and locals from their lovely shop.

Japanese Woodblock Printing - Edinburgh Printmakers

A wonderful weekend of Japanese Woodblock Printing at Edinburgh Printmakers with Paul Furneaux. The process is quite in depth and there was so much to take in that I hope my summary of the process does justice to workshop.

The studio space is light airy and cathedral in size. While we are woodblock printing another group are screen printing. It's a buzzy focused morning. Paul takes us through the process of dampening the newsprint first as it needs to sit and soak up the water for at least 15 minutes before laying the paper in between the sheets. Once the paper is laid between the newsprint, it is left in plastic on the side for two hours minimum.

Preparing the block and paper for registration

Next, Paul shows us how to prepare the paper for registration. He shows us two methods. The second one is a revelation and my favourite. The first method takes quite a bit longer. The registration is made on the actual block so if you have a few blocks each block will need this registration process. It almost takes as long as the carving of the print and also uses twice as much wood - hence is used mostly for larger editions. The second method uses a separate L shaped piece of wood which sits up next to the block to line up the paper. Then removed for printing. I am looking forward to making one of these when I get back to the studio. To line up the paper correctly, Paul uses a set square to even up the corners of the paper, then marks each corner with a pencil. He then loads up the paper in between the newsprint (too much newsprint will keep the paper damp for too long.

Paul demonstrates the different qualities of sized paper and unsized paper. It is much easier to buy sized paper from companies in the UK but you can get some really good quality unsized paper from Japan. It's bit of a minefield once you start trying to source Japanese papers. The fibres in the papers are much longer therefore much stronger and can absorb much more water based ink than the Western papers.

Printing the block

Paul gives us a good idea of what kind of wood to use for carving. His favourite is Shina plywood but again it's a minefield when sourcing the wood as the quality is very changeable. Even when you buy it from the same company, the next batch you buy could be very different to the one before. Today we're going to be using small blocks of plywood.

The wood needs to be dampened before printing to stop the ink completely absorbed by the wood. The first prints may not be as good as the wood needs to build up moisture. Paul is using watercolour and gouache paint. He shows us the different effects you can get by mixing the paint with nori paste for a more even colour and just straightforward paint with water for a more mottled softer effect. The amount of water and ink you use, the dampness of the paper, the type of paper, the dampness of the wood, the type of wood, how much pressure you put on the baren, the type of baren, the quality of the brush mark, the type of brush, make a huge difference to the quality of the print. Getting the right balance is quite an art and science.

Paul uses a combination of Japanese brushes and shoe brushes for brushing the ink onto the wood. We are shown how to create a bokashi effect -by loading up the colour along the top of the block then using a small brush back and forth slowly bring the brush down creating a gradient effect. It sounds simple enough but again getting the right pressure and speed and moisture is what makes or breaks the effect. He explains the many possibilities when printing with watercolour. You can re-print the same colour over the same area again and again and create a deeper richer colour. You can get transparence effects and tonal effects by printing different colours on top of each other, strong, bold bright colours to delicate, soft colours and much more. With so many options there is so much to learn ' A journey not to be taken lightly!' says Paul. I know this is true when I have seen the extremely fine carved detail and the magnificent layers of colours in well known prints by the likes of Hiroshige and Hokusai's designs.

 Carving the block

A great tip from Paul was to colour and sand the block before carving. I hadn't thought of this while carving the netsuke so it was another revelation. I could immediately see the benefits of being able to see where you had carved the block. It may sound ridiculous that I hadn't thought of it and it reminds me of the time my mum tried on my grandma's glasses. She cried out 'I've been living in a haze!' She couldn't believe how clear everything was. She had been walking around for years not realising she had blurred vision. Sometimes the simplest solutions are the most difficult to see.

Sanding the block with very fine sandpaper brings up the grain and creates a smooth surface on which to print. After another soak, sand and dry the print is ready for carving. The image has been traced on to tracing paper. Paul shows us how to use carbon paper between the tracing and the block to transfer the image to the block ready to carve.

I note another important discovery while watching Paul carving the block. I realise I've been making the first cut too shallow and the second cut too close to the first which is why I've sometimes had to re-carve the same lines. Also watching Paul cut the block and seeing the ease of which he carves reminds me of the aches and pains I get in my elbows when I carve. He explains that keeping the arm steady in one place with the hangito knife upright rather than use too much pressure may help. Also moving the block instead of the wrist. He has not noticed aches and pains when he carves so I really need to to keep an eye on my posture and how I hold the knife if I want the process to be pain free.

There are many different knifes and gouges for woodblock carving but Paul explains that the hangito knife and the large gouge tools are the most used tools for Japanese woodblock carving. The V tool is so difficult to sharpen that it is mainly used for small decorative cuts and not for major outlines or key blocks. Also the hangito knife is more precise and much easier to sharpen. Paul gives us a sharpening demo using a gouge tool on a water stone.

Boats and Houses - A Reduction Print

After lunch we start on our own designs. I have brought many sketches that are much too complicated for a two day printing workshop. I pick out the simplest one - a line drawing I made of some boats and houses. I am eager to print and find myself rushing the tracing onto the block which will now make it difficult to line up the rest of the blocks. I show Paul my traced image on the block. He recognises my urge to print and advises making a reduction print using just this block. A reduction print means to gradually carve away the image in between prints eventually cutting away most of the image. There are pros and cons to this - you can never re-print the image but the registration of the block will be more precise. Also it means you don't have to trace the same image on lots of blocks but at the end of the printing session you don't get to keep the image on the block. So it's a challenge for me as I love the quality of the carved block and like to keep all the blocks from the prints I make. I'm going to be printing this image on two pieces of proofing paper and two pieces of quality handmade Japanese paper. Here we go..

A Moveable Feast

Tove

Last year (Aug 2014) I visited the Ateneum Art Gallery in Helsinki for the Tove 100 exhibition. I hadn't realised Tove Jansson had been so prolific throughout her life. A wealth of work filled the gallery from graphic design, book and comic illustration, sketches, fine art paintings from self portraits to landscapes murals and 3D models. As I absorbed her work I was in awe and thrilled that I had the opportunity to be in this space. I have collected a few of her books in the last few years including The Moomin illustrated story books, comic strips and her much loved novels. Her work has a magical and ethereal quality.

"Ham worked hard, and at home the little girl watched her drawing, hour after hour. It convinced her that indian ink, pen and paper and the act of drawing itself were a fixed and natural part of a woman's life. " "Tove Janson Work and Love" by Tuula Karjalainen.

Mama

This resonates with my own childhood spending the summer holidays at my grandparents house In Dublin. Most of the time I was glued to a chair in the corner with sketchbook on my lap drawing cartoons. My grandmother inspired this creativity. She didn't have the opportunity to be a self employed young artist. After college she started working at the local library when my grandfather came along and whisked her off her feet. They were married, had five children and only when they were old enough to start looking after themselves did she begin her journey into painting. She didn't have the luxury of a studio so after dinner, she would clear the table, fetch her oil paints, brushes, canvases, sketches from her art trips and spend the evening painting landscapes amidst the chaos. She continued to paint like this well into her eighties.

Sometimes Mama would find me books for inspiration and I would experiment drawing faces and figures from different angles. Then I'd take a break from the technical exploration and take pen on a circular day dream. The first time she handed me a blank canvas and some oil paints from the shed I was so excited. In the living room I found a photograph of a boat on a lake in the sunset. I sat in Papa's chair at the end of the table opposite Mama and started painting. I was so ecstatic and proud of the result. In that moment I felt like I could achieve anything.

Tove was thirty when she held her first solo exhibition in 1943.

"Courage was something the young artist needed. Her biggest test of the war years was her first solo exhibition, which she held in 1943 at the prestigious art salon owned by Leonard Backsbacka, a friend of the family. By then she was nearly thirty: relatively old for a first one-woman show." Tove Janson Work and Love Tuula Karjalainen

I like to believe there are more people in the world discovering new passions or continuing to grow their dreams and embrace beginnings whatever their age.

“Wild goose, wild goose. at what age did you make your first journey?”

— Kobayashi Issa Season by Season by Sandrine Bailly

Netsuke - Tigress and Young

As I carve Tigress and Young I am listening to print maker David Bull discussing the process of his Great Wave print. He is meticulous and passionate about Japanese woodblock printing and is an absolute perfectionist and spends weeks getting the image for the print just right. He has no patience for shoddy craftsmanship as he pulls apart a few examples of early Great Wave reproductions. He is the Mataichi of wood block carving. His carvings are painstakingly precise. It's moments like this when I wonder if I should just give up, put down the hangito and rethink this whole project. And when I brush the ink on the wood lay the paper on the woodblock, rub the baren over the paper to reveal what is by far the worst carved netsuke since I started this project, I wonder if the issue is in the drawing and not the carving. Maybe I need to work on the initial image so I know exactly what I am going to carve as so far I have just been scanning the original sketch and carving from loose marking making. Another part of me ponders carving into a blank piece of wood. See where the grain leads me and welcome some thing more dynamic. Just to play.

Life Drawing

After carving Tigress and Young I attend a life drawing class. It is fun to draw on big sheets of paper, to create dynamic lines, to be more open and expressive. I am enjoying the space and drawing from life. Some of these drawings are just 5 minutes - the longest, 20 minutes. This limit on time means I can't be so precious. It is liberating. And because of this I am more observant. I am more present and I am more alive. This class takes me back about 20 years when I was studying creative arts at universiy. I had this open attitude to life everyday. How refreshing to be reminded that it is all still possible.

At the beginning of the year my aim was to put on an exhibition of netsuke mini prints this year. Embarking on a new project is exciting and it is the easy part. The challenge is to stick with it, whatever happens along the way. It is already April. I have reached a hurdle and questioning my process. I ponder the notion of making these life drawings into large woodcuts. I'm wandering off course and wanting to dance in the woods but I don't want to give up on the netsuke mini prints. I look through my notebook and see that the latest prints are much more detailed than the earlier ones. I know my carving skills are still in the early stages of development but working on such small blocks of soft wood is adding to the challenge. I wonder if I need to simplify the drawings and carve more of the outline as I did with the earlier netsuke prints.

“The object was to seize the ultimate essence of rock, water, tree, and flower. But it is not analytic passion, but a spirit of warm brotherhood, that guides the hands. Fosco Maraini Italian Photographer and writer. ”

— Season by Season by Sandrine Bailly.