[Baren]: The mailing list / discussion forum for woodblock printmaking. Baren Digest Friday, 2 October 1998 Volume 05 : Number 299 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1998 18:41:49 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [Baren 1791] A poem This is from Ray H in Vermont. Some time ago I wrote a poem about the woodblock prints of the Chinese printer Lu Fang. His work is the type called "Water Printing" or Shui-yin. I'm not sure it works as a poem if the reader doesn't know anything about woodblock printing, but Baren folks might enjoy it. The Woodblock Prints of Lu Fang a. Drawing He arranges what he sees to fit his vision. Nothing he knows has prepared him for this: something familiar which no one has seen. b. Carving He lowers knife into wood a small breath blown across the grain a brush dipping through water, a minnow leaping. A storm of willow leaves strews the table. What he carves away appears briefly for what it is not. It is what is left behind anchored in wood wide as his palm or thin as a nail clipping speaks. c. Printing He prepares the surface with water: wood, paper, sea spary, mountain mist. Paper breathes into wood. With a curved brush from watercolors in shallow bowls he paints the wood. Paper touches wood. He sees, as the blind know, how water carries color along branches, across shadows of snow, against the weight of rain and beyond. As he burnishes the print a lavender dust brushes the landscape. For those interested, there's a good article on this type of woodblock printing in the Sept-Nov. 1984 issues of Art international: "The Chinese Art of 'Water Printing', Shui-Yin", by Michael Sullivan. ------------------------------ From: "David Stones" Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1998 11:57:31 +0900 Subject: [Baren 1792] Re: Hairy editions? Dear All, I've been following some recent postings but without a computer to add my 10 Yen's worth... It does seem though that all this search for the definition of editions etc., and now even boredom gets a mention, deserve comment from the practical point of view. These are only my opinions, so take them as you will... There is no one way or method of working (as Dave B also says) but with sound planning and a clear idea of what's physically required beforehand there's no problem in creating woodblock work, technical skills aside. But, some are so eager to "get going" or ponder "the rules" they miss out on the vital points of wood choice, paper, colours, and edition size (the latter decides how long you'll be at the print table, paper needs etc. so, for these practical reasons, it's important - what galleries/collectors think is secondary). Before the knife cuts any block, decisions must be taken and then abided by... and those who say "but something interesting may develop so planning is bunkum" I'll have to add that their woodblocks may not respond as hoped. All choices are individual and nobody else makes "the rules" - what you create and how this is done is under no precedent - if the maker likes to be called an artist, he/she is an artist, pro or otherwise. I often add one or even two blocks as I proof and reproof but my basic idea never changes once things have been set in motion and... things stay as the final proof when a printing run begins. By their very nature, woodblock prints are cut to make reproductions and not individual items and this is the basis of their final sale - one of an edition of ??? all similar but never an exact copy... and (in my case) all done by hand. I also calculate in days too, not hours and stay at the print table until the day's work is done and things are prepared for the next day. "Armache" is often head orientated - or your posture/table/work methods need modifying to suit YOUR needs not what others do/did - boredom probably comes along when an idea doesn't work out well but printing is too-soon underway. Stop... is the only answer here. I print only about 6 or 7 small works a year, the last was 230 prints (11 blocks, 14 times through) for a calendar (much like Richard's idea) and before this, and the awful humid summer, went a 24-block, 60-run print... these presented no problems (technical skills aside, again!) and the facts are only added to show what I personally consider "normal" - I don't expect others to think the same. Things in my workshop have been really slowed up by the typhoons/weather/other work and a full week of putting this computer back as it was (the store messed up my laptop so much they gave me a new model - minus a lot of data and all the [Baren] posts!) so I look forward to re-starting printwork.... and it's that basic "interest" in the ongoing project that is the real woodblock printer's guide - if it's not there and printing or carving "that darn" next block is on the mind - you've some problems... maybe those in [Baren] can help... Print on. Dave S ------------------------------ From: Jean Eger Date: Thu, 01 Oct 1998 22:14:35 -0700 Subject: [Baren 1793] Re: Baren Digest V5 #298 Dear Barenians, I have placed on my home page http://users.lanminds.com/~jeaneger/ my woodcut portrait of Tomoko Murakami, who is a woodcutter who works and teaches in the San Francisco Bay Area. She conducted a weekend workshop at the Richmond Art Center and I made the print in her workshop. It is a reduction print using water based inks. Tomoko's head is bald, out of choice, I guess, although I never really asked her. The print shows her at her demonstration table, with samples mounted on a board in front of her. The print is nothing great, but I just thought you might enjoy this portrait of a well-known woodblock printmaker from this area. She makes very large prints on silk that can be hung from a high ceiling. They really come alive with light shining through them. I printed the first block of the reduction. She held it up and said, "THAT's the artist's proof." Sincerely, Jean Eger ------------------------------ End of Baren Digest V5 #299 ***************************