Netsuke - Goldfish

Back in April, when I was searching The British Museum's website netsuke collection, I found a beautiful bulbous orange goldfish. I wanted to draw this striking creature but it was not available at the time. Instead I bought The British Museum's book "Netsuke - 100 Miniature Masterpieces” by Noriko Tsuchiya and found a full colour closeup of the same goldfish. I made a drawing from the photograph and then a carving on magnolia wood. I printed the key block with Japanese carbon ink on white Hosho paper. Since January I have been making prints with Japanese carbon ink, enjoying the blackness of the ink against the white paper. Focusing on my carving technique. I have been inspired by Shiko Munakata's passion for black and white prints and I haven't ventured into multi-colour prints. Only a brief play with the Orchids and the Boats in the Sand at Paul Furneaux's workshop.

Orange

This Goldfish netsuke is orange. I think about making a second carving to give this goldfish print an orange body. And then I stop and I wonder why I didn’t feel compelled to make the Horse Grazing a warm chestnut? Why not make the Elephant and Man glow with that dark golden patina? Or the Ape Clutching a Gourd, mahogany? Maybe something resonates here in Victoria Finlay's chapter on orange in her book 'Colour - Travels through the Paintbox’.

“Orange - is the most eye catching colour and - in Cremona’s city hall it is the orange violin which jumps out straight away, shouting: ‘Look at me first!; the yellow and brown ones don’t make the same demands - I drove into Cremona on a warm day in August, to find out how one particular orange can - perhaps - make musical instruments sing.”

— Victoria Finlay - Colour

I think about Naoko Matsubara's beautiful fiery orange and pink woodblock prints of dancers, Inari and Maiko. Orange is singing to me and I am again brought back to that moment where the main character, Mataichi, from Kanoko Okamoto's book 'A Riot of Goldfish', opens the lid to view his goldfish.

“But soon there bobbed into view, like a Corpulent French beauty or a graceful and majestic woman of the Tempyo era, a round body, eyes, and a mouth with eyebrows, that made you want to paint them.”

— A Riot of Goldfish by Kanoko Okamoto

Black on White

I'm not ready for colour today but as I follow the path of black on white, I hold these whispers of orange on the horizon.

“It is the secret of knowing yourself and your materials so well that you can wrap your life’s experiences into the very body of an instrument, just as a true musician puts his or her life experiences into the playing of it - and when both elements are right, the together - maker and musician - you can persuade your violin to sing and cry and dance the orange.”

— Victoria Finlay - Colour

Goldfish woodblock

金魚

Naoko Matsubara at Abbozzo Gallery

Victoria Finlay - Colour

A Riot of Goldfish by Kanoko Okamoto

Japanese Woodcutting Tools from Japan

Received a lovely gift today from my friend Joe at Red Bird Makes She recently made a visit to Japan and brought me back some antique woodcutting tools wrapped in newspaper which I look forward to trying out. Thank you Joe!

Red Bird Makes on Etsy

Red Deer Sleeping - Letterpress booklets

Sanctum Bristol

New booklets recently printed for my other project red deer sleeping. The booklets were made specifically for Sanctum Bristol. Each booklet cover is printed on the Adana 8x5 with wood and metal type. The text inside the booklet is digitally printed.

Last Saturday 31st October at 10.45pm, red deer sleeping performed songs of love and nature at Sanctum Bristol.

“This autumn, a remarkable structure will rise up from within the bombed out remains of Temple Church in Bristol. For 24 days, this 14th century site will be transformed into an intimate gathering place in which to hear the city like never before – Sanctum will be open from 6pm on Thursday 29th October to 6pm on Saturday 21st November, 24 hours a day. The schedule will always remain secret until the end of each day. Entrance is free.”

— Sanctum Bristol

Netsuke - Bristol Museum Sketches

Twenty Netsuke in a Box

I have two hours booked with Kate Newnham to draw netsuke this morning at Bristol Museum. Kate has brought a box of netsuke into the office. A couple of weeks ago I sent Kate a list of netsuke that I would be interested in drawing from Bristol Museum's collection. This included a recumbent Buddhist lion, a monkey with scrolled ears and a stubby tail, a recumbent stag, a crouching tiger, a lion and cub, two tortoises, three monkeys clambering over a giant peach, a rat in a rice-bag, a rat with brass eyes and a monkey wearing a short gown. I pause for a moment and wonder how many more animals I would need to fill Noahs Ark. Inside this box are twenty different netsuke animals cushioned in their own tiny boxes.

Rabbit with Red Eyes

Kate has found almost all of the netsuke I chose from the collection and brought another netsuke I might be interested in. It's a rabbit with red piercing eyes and a smooth pale ivory body. I'm reminded of Edmund De Waal's Hare with The Amber Eyes and then my thoughts move to a more clinical laboratory scene of red eyed white mice ready for dissection. This thought is heightened by the pair of white gloves lying next to the box. I think about Edmund De Waal's collection and the many people who have held his netsuke in their hands and the conversations they have sparked and the memories held in these tiny objects. I wonder if the netsuke being kept in a museum over time might lose their memories as they are kept in a box and only occasionally handled with gloves. Will these conversations eventually come to a end?

Four Views of Rat with Brass Eyes Crouched over a Chestnut

Kate puts on the gloves and asks me which one I would like to draw first. I look back into the box of netsuke. It's difficult to make a choice as they are all so beautiful. After closer inspection I feel drawn to the Rat with brass eyes crouched over a chestnut.

I start drawing a side view of the rat with half of its face turned towards me. One brass eye stares back at me from its carved coat of grey. I pick up the rat. These gloves keep our connection at a distance. It's difficult to handle such a small object with gloves and my hands feel like paws - although I have seen a cat handle a small mouse with much more finesse. I carefully hold the rat in one hand while drawing with the other. What is lovely, is the space and silence to view the detail in this rat. To have the time to be able to see the rat from all angles. Every single part of the rat is carved beautifully - its tiny claws clasping the chestnut. I make two more drawings.

“You look at the etymology of tact and all you have there in that beautiful word is the feeling of holding something, of touching something. That’s the root of tact - so what I want to talk about is touching silence. Touching the experience of being with someone and finding a silence in connection with them because that is what tact is.”

— Edmund de Waal On Tact

Five Views of Rabbit with Red Eyes

I move on to the rabbit and make five drawings. Each from a different view as I did with the rat. While drawing each view I think about Hokusai's Thirty Six Views of Mount Fuji. He was given this project so that they may help those who wanted to learn landscape design.

“For example, its shape seen from Shichirigahama, or in the distance, from Tsukudajima, etc... - they may well be more than a hundred, and are not restricted to thirty-six designs.”

— Hokusai - Mountains and Water, Flowers and Birds by Matthi Forrer.

It would be possible to draw a hundred views of these netsuke as the detail is so fine and there is always something new to discover. Someone learning the anatomy of Japanese netsuke might be thrilled by this concept!

One View of Monkey Wearing Short Gown

Kate puts the rabbit back in the box. I scan the box of netsuke and this time I'm immediately drawn to a tiny monkey with a melancholic expression. A downward gaze, not shouting for attention - unlike the piercing red eyes of the rabbit and the bright brass eyes of the rat. This monkey is pensive, self contained and quiet. I'm almost unsure whether to disturb it but I'm drawn to this netsuke so Kate gently lifts it from the box. I don't pick it up. It seems quite happy sitting in the centre of this big sheet of paper and I start to draw. Two hours have passed and I don't have any more time to draw from a different view and this feels right. I have given this monkey lots of space and make one small drawing right in the centre of the page.

“Solitude matters and that for some people it is the air that they breathe. And in fact, we have known for centuries about the transcendent power of solitude. It’s only recently that we’ve strangely begun to forget it. If you look at most of the world’s major religions, you will find seekers — Moses, Jesus, Buddha, Muhammad — seekers who are going off by themselves alone to the wilderness, where they then have profound epiphanies and revelations that they then bring back to the rest of the community. So, no wilderness, no revelations.”

— Susan Cain - The Power of Introverts - TED TALK

Thank you Kate and Bristol Museum for giving me your time and space to draw the netsuke.

Netsuke - Horse Grazing

A Celebration of the wondrous horse in many forms

My next exploration is 'Horse Grazing' inspired by The British Museum's book 'Netsuke - 100 Miniature Masterpieces from Japan.' I found the carving of this horse a little easier than the goat. It helped that there were less lines to carve so I could concentrate more energy on the simpler outline. I began using the cream disk baren the result experimented with my new bamboo baren but I just couldn't pull an even print without over inking the image. I went back used my cream plastic disk baren for the next few prints resulting in a much cleaner image.

Horse Grazing Print using plastic disk baren

Horse Grazing Print using bamboo baren

“As in many cultures, the horse has long been admired in Japan, used as a steed for warriors and considered an object of worship also. In ancient times, people used to to donate horses to shrines to gain the favour of the deities - Unsigned. Wood. Late 1700s. Height 6.5cm.”

— Netsuke - 100 miniature masterpieces from Japan.

April Vollmer & A Rampant Horse

On my way to the studio, I stop to look at books in the Arnolfini bookshop. I love this bookshop with shelves full of books on print making, drawing, architecture, illustration, fashion, graphic design, photography, fine art and more. I pick up a book called 'Japanese Woodblock Print Workshop' by April Vollmer. It is fitting that the publisher's logo is a rampant horse while I have been working on my 'Horse Grazing' woodblock print. Watson-Guptill specifically publish books that instruct and inspire artists in a wide range of art and craft. This beautiful hardback edition is vibrant with April Vollmer's multi-colour print of elderflowers (Zova) and inside, her wonderful explanation of the Mokuhanga woodblock printing process.

“Learning mokuhanga gave me more creative options than I had anticipated. Initially I wanted to learn to print without a press or toxic solvents, but the flexibility of the technique convinced me to begin using it for all my work.”

— April Vollmer - Japanese Woodblock Print Workshop

Two Legged Animal

Back in February 2015 I was covering a shift at Makers Shop & Gallery. A woman popped into the shop looking for a gift to give to a performer at the end of their evening show at the local theatre. I found her some paper flowers folded from sheet music and maps. 'Two Legged Animal' would be performed that night by an aerialist with the skull of a horse, a rope, and a violinist. Minimal in style and timeless in content. I was intrigued. Later on that evening while working in my studio a message came through from a friend that there was a 'not to be missed' performance at the local theatre. Synchronicity strikes again.

I look at my clock. I have 10 minutes before the show is about to start. I pack up my stuff and leave the studio. I arrive at the theatre in the thick of an excited crowd waiting eagerly in the foyer. The announcement is made and one by one we slowly enter the dark intimate space...

“The timeless relationship between human and horse, women and the wild. Performed with tail-flicking freedom, Ziggy brings to life the drumbeat of timeless hooves and the tension of the rope. The field is a circus and the sawdust is grass. Stark and tender Two Legged Animal is a windswept journey across open landscapes and through the night, encompassing the sensual and animalistic aspects of female empowerment.”

— Event posted by Joe Medlpot

Two Legged Animal Teaser

There will be another opportunity to see this powerful performance at Wickham Theatre, Bristol on Wednesday 21st October 2015.

Thanks Line B Frank and Joe Medler for inviting me to this incredible performance by Ziggy Slingsby and Rowan Rheingans.

Claire Dorey and Jesvir Mahil

The horse is a strong and beautiful creature. Sculptor and photographer, Claire Dorey, captures the power of these wonderful animals with her stunning sculptures at Immortal Horse

“What I love about the Eastern approach is that when we think we are going forwards we are in fact going backwards. For example it seems very progressive to allow horses to roam around freely but there was a time in the past when that was perfectly normal and I believe that there will be a time in the future when it will again be perfectly normal to allow horses to roam around freely. Wouldn’t that be wonderful.”

— Jesvir Mahil - The Seven Ps of Creativity