Heron Shade EP cover for Red Deer Sleeping.
Front cover: woodblock printed with Japanese carbon ink.
Back cover: songs typeset with 24pt Univers metal type printed with gold letterpress ink on the Adana 8 X 5.
Journal
CREATIVE EXPLORATIONS
Heron Shade EP cover for Red Deer Sleeping.
Front cover: woodblock printed with Japanese carbon ink.
Back cover: songs typeset with 24pt Univers metal type printed with gold letterpress ink on the Adana 8 X 5.
Celebrating National Poetry Day
High up above the open, welcoming door
It hangs, a piece of wood with colours dim.
Once, long ago, it was a waving tree
And knew the sun and shadow through the leaves
Of forest trees, in a thick eastern wood.
The winter snows had bent its branches down,
The spring had swelled its buds with coming flowers,
Summer had run like fire through its veins,
While autumn pelted it with chestnut burrs,
And strewed the leafy ground with acorn cups.
Dark midnight storms had roared and crashed among
Its branches, breaking here and there a limb;
But every now and then broad sunlit days
Lovingly lingered, caught among the leaves.
Yes, it had known all this, and yet to us
It does not speak of mossy forest ways,
Of whispering pine trees or the shimmering birch;
But of quick winds, and the salt, stinging sea!
An artist once, with patient, careful knife,
Had fashioned it like to the untamed sea.
Here waves uprear themselves, their tops blown back
By the gay, sunny wind, which whips the blue
And breaks it into gleams and sparks of light.
Among the flashing waves are two white birds
Which swoop, and soar, and scream for very joy
At the wild sport. Now diving quickly in,
Questing some glistening fish. Now flying up,
Their dripping feathers shining in the sun,
While the wet drops like little glints of light,
Fall pattering backward to the parent sea.
Gliding along the green and foam-flecked hollows,
Or skimming some white crest about to break,
The spirits of the sky deigning to stoop
And play with ocean in a summer mood.
Hanging above the high, wide open door,
It brings to us in quiet, firelit room,
The freedom of the earth's vast solitudes,
Where heaping, sunny waves tumble and roll,
And seabirds scream in wanton happiness.
In June, the BBC released a three part documentary focusing on the three islands of Japan: Honshu, The Southwest Islands and Hokkaido.
Part one follows the relationship between people and wildlife living in close proximity to each other. From the brief and magical blossoming cherry trees in Tokyo city to the wild mountains of Hida inhabited by black bears hunting insects under rocks. Macaque monkeys bath in volcanic springs and forage fruit from local farms. Japanese tree frogs lay their eggs in trees above the rice paddy fields. Fresh water carp suck up leftovers from Kabata kitchens. Fireflies light up the summer evenings. Cow demons live in the ancient forests enchanted with Kudama tree spirits. Sacred Sika deer head from the hills to a Buddhist temple in the town of Nara and bow to humans in return for deer biscuits. Earthquakes and volcanoes erupt. Luminescent fire fly squid are swept up on tsunami battered coastlines and streetwise tanuki (racoon dogs) adapt to the city living by the edge of a busy railway line. These cheeky charmers are seen to bring good luck and people accept their mischievous neighbours.
I had never heard of a tanuki before I explored the world of Japanese netsuke and still had no idea what a real one looked like while I drew the tanuki netsuke at the British Museum. To me this tanuki netsuke is a cross between a bear and a pig rather than a racoon dog.
I'm going against my original plan to keep the netsuki prints small and have enlarged the tanuki sketch in Photoshop. The original ivory netuske was 3.9cm high, my original sketch is 5cm high and the final woodblock carving is 11.5 cm high.
Making the woodblock carving bigger does not stop me making mistakes. I really need to slow down. An important part of the process which I have yet to crack. I've accidentally cut into the outline of the tanuki's arm. I put the tiny outline of wood to the side and look for some glue. Distracted by a drawer full of chaos I forget about the search for glue and start clearing out the clutter. Feeling pleased with my now orderly drawer of zen, I proceed to sweep all the shavings off the table in to a bag forgetting about the little chunk of wood now lost in the woodpile shavings.
Another important part of the process - focus. Something which eluded me while transferring the image from photoshop to the block. The Tanuki is facing in the opposite direction to the original image. Which is fine if I had planned this but I didn't! So next time I need to slow down and focus.
My Swimming Whales exploration reminds me of my trip to the Bower Ashton campus library at UWE last October. While exploring the library shelves I came across Shiko Munakata, founder of the Creative Print movement in Japan. His process resonated with me as he also let the wood speak as there is no right and wrong, just the doing of it.
"The essence of hanga lies in the fact that one must give in to the ways of the board," he says. "There is power in the board and one cannot force the tool against that power. It is this power which lies outside this artist, rather than any power within him, that dominates the creation of hanga." Shiko Munakata The Woodblock and the Artist - Southbank Centre London 1991
On the shelves of UWE library I also found a thin pamphlet hiding between the heavy hardbacks. It's an exhibition booklet of prints by Naoko Matsubara, a Japanese woodblock printer also from the Creative Print Movement. I have fallen in love with her dynamic and expressive work which focuses on nature and architecture, dancers and movement.
"Nature, in a Matsubara print, is not a passive, uncomprehending background to our endeavours, as much as a pulsating force whose destiny is closely intertwined with that of humans." David Waterhouse
Not long after my visit to UWE library and finding Naoko Matsubara and Shiko Munakata's inspiring work I was determined to try and make a two colour print of some orchids I drew at Wisley Gardens a couple of years ago.
It was very experimental as the registration was completely wrong but some interesting results!
Very excited that my wood cutting tools have arrived. 1 Power Grip Japanese Cutting Tool Set, 1 Power Grip Japanese Cutting Tool 1.5mm U (I realise this is already in the set but I guess it will be handy to have a spare), 1 Power Grip Japanese Cutting Tool 1.5mm V, 1 Power Grip Japanese Cutting Tool: 3mm U and 1 100x150mm pack of Japanese Side Grain Woodblocks.
The ape and standing heron are guinea pigs for exploring my new cutting tools. They carve beautifully. I'm amazed at how difficult I have been making it for myself by carving with cheap tools on cheap wood. It has been a struggle and given me painful elbows but today this feels like cutting through butter. I wonder how long this honeymoon period will last. In the excitement I have cut myself twice already, a warning to slow down and my baren has just split. I'm carving with the 7mm Hangito, 6mm large U (Komasuki) & 6mm large V (sanhakito). The technique of the Hangito is similar to my experience of cutting rubber stamps with a sharp scalpel. A technique I learnt a while back from printer maker extrordinaire Stephen Fowler.
To master the technique of Japanese woodblock printing takes years and years and as a beginner I feel completely out of my depth and there are many frustrations but I recently came across this quote and it helped me feel a little lighter about it!
The zen priest Shunryu Suzuki often told his students that it is not difficult to attain enlightenment, the difficulty remains in retaining the mind of a beginner. He told them "There are many possibilities, but in the expert there are few" From Awakening the Spine by Vanda Scaravelli
If any of these self initiated creative explorations have made your heart sing please consider making a contribution. Your support will help me continue creating art and music to nourish the soul.