[Baren]: The mailing list / discussion forum for woodblock printmaking. Baren Digest Monday, 25 January 1999 Volume 06 : Number 423 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Cucamongie@aol.com Date: Sun, 24 Jan 1999 09:31:44 EST Subject: [Baren 2785] Re: Hiroshige Jean wrote: > Many thanks to all the people who told me what book came with the Hokusai > and Hiroshige exhibition. Excuse me for stating the obvious (which you've probably tried) - but did you call the Asian Museum to see if they still have the book available? I would think that you'd still be able to get it through them - it's worth a shot - Best regards, Sarah ------------------------------ From: Cucamongie@aol.com Date: Sun, 24 Jan 1999 09:38:14 EST Subject: [Baren 2786] Hiroshige Also, on the subject of Hiroshige, not long ago I was able to get an out-of- print book of Hiroshige prints which was on the pricey side but (to me) worth it - it's a small book called "Hiroshige - A Shoal of Fishes" and it's put together accordion-style with a series of gorgeous prints of fish - I went searching for the book after April showed me her copy - anyway, I go it through Amazon.com - they take a while to find out of print stuff sometimes, but they can locate a lot of books if you're not in a hurry - Regards, Sarah ------------------------------ From: Hideshi Yoshida Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1999 00:05:37 +0900 Subject: [Baren 2787] Re: reprinting Hello, David-san wrote , >Thanks for being there, Hideshi, and I'm sorry that we had no chance >to sit and talk peacefully. I've got a lot of questions I'd like to ask you about >your prints. Yes, of course . Let's talk about our prints and maybe next month will be fine . >Hideshi-san, in this photo are we looking at the block, or at a print? >How big is this print? >Are you printing with a press or a baren? The photo is a block , size is 150×90cm . It was too much big !! I printed it with a baren and doing it made me tired very much . >It looks incredible, and I can well believe that it has taken you seven >months to finish. I look forward to seeing the real thing! First , I planed to finish it within six months but the fact was ... You will have chance to see the real thing someday , Dave . I wanna show everybody my work however I don't know when I can do it . Graham wrote , >Last night I must of been.....was beat ..... and the mind ceased to >function. The Dutch artist is M.C. Escher 1898 1972 Yes you are right , Escher . He is a teacher for me . I have been to Holand to visit the house he was born , his grave , the home for aged (This place isfor only old artists and musicians . Its name is Rosa Spier Huis) and so on . See you , Hideshi Web site http://www1.plala.or.jp/Hideshi/ ------------------------------ From: Wanda Robertson Date: Sun, 24 Jan 1999 09:07:12 -0700 Subject: [Baren 2788] Re: Hiroshige You really can't beat "bookfinders.com" for finding the out of print books. Seriously, I have tried to find some books through Amazon.com, (which I really love for *new* books, believe me) but they are outrageously over-priced (in my opinion) and I was able to find the very same book with "bookfinders" at a used book price. Try it, you won't believe what you can find! I don't work for them or anything, just a very happy customer. It is a group of book sellers - large and small (amazon & powell's are in there too) and it's wonderful to find a book you want in a little bookstore in the middle of nowhere at a more than reasonable price. I'm usually looking for a book I can *use* so don't mind if it's in less than perfect condition. That addy again is: http://www.bookfinder.com/ I did see a copy of the "Shoal of Fishes" book on that list. Is it a good one to have? Wanda ------------------------------ From: April Vollmer/John Yamaguchi Date: Sun, 24 Jan 1999 14:02:27 -0400 Subject: [Baren 2789] Order and color Offset problems: I do print the lightest colors first, which does make offsetting less noticable. I print in large areas of color, though, so it is always a bit of a problem, the first colors influencing the later ones. Nice print, Hideshi! I look forward to seeing it in person. The ukiyo-e prints Dave and Hideshi speak about have faded over time, but I believe some of the pigments used faded more than others. Some made from plant material are extremely fugitive. [ I have to say I sort of like the extreme "left-ness" and "right-ness" of those compositions! very eccentric!] Jean: I like working with pigment dispersions because I can be quite specific identifying what pigments are lightfast. Pigment dispersions are pigments ground in water. I mix them with a 2: 1 mixture of gum arabic and glycerine as a binder. I add a squirt of calcium carbonate (also in water) if I want the color to be more opaque. It's a rough formula, but it seems to work. I mix the color in advance, in a screw top jar, and mix it on the block with methyl cellulose (in lieu of rice paste). Anybody else work with pigment? April Vollmer ------------------------------ From: Graham Scholes Date: Sun, 24 Jan 1999 10:10:14 -0800 Subject: [Baren 2790] Re: reprinting Hideshi wrote.... >The photo is a block , size is 150×90cm . It was too much big !! >I printed it with a baren and doing it made me tired very much . The measurements came to me as above. Just to clearify .... Size is 90cm x 150cm Why does that sound bigger when you state it in British measurement 3 feet x 5 feet. Gees......just lifting the paper would exhaust me. Again congratulations on a winner. Graham ------------------------------ From: Cucamongie@aol.com Date: Sun, 24 Jan 1999 13:25:09 EST Subject: [Baren 2791] Re: bookfinders Thanks, Wanda, for the info about bookfinders - I would be glad to pay less than Amazon.com charges for the out of print books! Regards, Sarah Hauser ------------------------------ From: David Bull Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1999 08:27:18 +0900 Subject: [Baren 2792] Forwarded message from new member ... This message is being forwarded from new member Bea Gold (Bea: the address for posting messages to [Baren] is: baren@ml.asahi-net.or.jp) *** I have been doing woodcuts and painting since the early 1940s. I was an art student first at the Highschool of Music and Art in NYC and then at the Art Student's League - where I worked for three years under three competitive scholarships feeling like a real hot shot! Studied print making under Will Barnet - At that time I had an art teacher who told me that no matter how well I did in school I could never call myself an artist unless I always had a work in progress. I believed him and in all the years since, I have never been without something I'm working on. I call myself an artist. - Bad marriage to artist - escape from NYC to Los Angeles - new marriage - 4 kids and long time pioneer career as a non-profit administrator and educator. I have been retired since 1994 and do a lot of gardening volunteering. I love cutting wood but have not enjoyed printing, until recently when I switched from oil to water and began painting under and then printing on top. I am now very excited about the process since each print is unique.( Basically Mono printing.) I have never been interested in spending the time needed to sell my work as a business - my paintings are in private collections all over the country and in general they go from my easel to someone's home. I am retired now and one of my kids who is a Financial Manager suggested that it's time I made a "name for myself".( This is so that my kids can get the benefit of my talent after I'm dead!) She saw the Antique Road Show, a program on public television, and some kids came in with a watercolor journal of their grandmother's that was beautiful but couldn't be appraised because the grandmother had never sold her work. I do color blocks or just paint on the paper first and then print over but not in the Japanese manner. I have always used a spoon for printing on oil but now that I'm using water I'm exploring other methods. I found the Baren site while trying to find Japanese printing paper on the internet. I love the site, the forum, the encyclopedia, and the people especially Dave Bull! ------------------------------ From: David Bull Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1999 09:47:56 +0900 Subject: [Baren 2793] Still more bad news ... I'm afraid that I've got a sad update to my posting about Ito-san and Shimano-san a week or so ago ... I just had a call a few minutes ago from the leader of the craftsman's association, letting me know that the block maker Shimano-san passed away last night. I don't know the details of the medical condition, but the fact that he had his entire stomach removed in December leads one to suspect that he must have had stomach cancer, something that was probably never revealed to him. The 'tsuya' (a kind of quiet wake) is tomorrow evening, and the funeral the next day. Hopefully, I won't be bringing you more of this kind of news. Surely, this is enough for a while! Dave ------------------------------ From: mmflavio Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1999 05:34:40 +0000 Subject: [Baren 2794] Re: Order and color April wrote: >I like working with pigment dispersions because I can be quite > specific identifying what pigments are lightfast. etc. > Anybody else work with pigment? April, I use powder pigment in water, then add rice paste in the mixture and apply it to the block. What is the effect of the gum arabic and the glycerine? I have methyl cellulose but have not tried it yet, why do you prefer it? Maybe because it doesn't mold? Would the other binders make the ink coverage more even? Is it 2 parts gum arabic and 1 glycerine? Thanks Marco ------------------------------ From: LaCinzia@aol.com Date: Sun, 24 Jan 1999 23:36:31 EST Subject: [Baren 2795] Re: editioning, critiques An online crit sounds good to me. I'd like to have had a teacher that helped me through what were sometimes an agonizing experience. Took me too long to realize that critiques were to help you grow and learn from your mistakes. Cyndy ------------------------------ From: Graham Scholes Date: Sun, 24 Jan 1999 21:35:14 -0800 Subject: [Baren 2796] Re: Forwarded message from new member ... Bea wrote.... >I have been doing woodcuts and painting since the early 1940s. Welcome to the group. Oh boy, looks like I got company. Isn't it lovely at our age when we can claim it is the privilege of old age when we goof up. (make a mistake.) Get your children to market your work. Cheers Graham - Victoria BC ------------------------------ End of Baren Digest V6 #423 ***************************