Opening April Vollmer's
Japanese Woodblock Print Workshop at random as I sat down to breakfast, I found myself reading about papermaking for mokuhanga and how washi differs from Western papers. Then, thinking to invest in a decent brush (mizubake) for wetting and/or sizing paper, I found myself reading about papers again (at
rospobio.blogspot.co.uk) and, seeing the range in results obtained, determined to try a few of the papers on hand here, just to see what happens.
In the "proper" process, there are
so many nuances for each aspect ... quite beyond me at this point and maybe forever ... but I'm not averse to using the process "improperly". At the moment, it's a matter of making lots of prints so that Just Doing It becomes easier and the results better, and some sort of control of the desired results develops.
So, into the studio, get a block soaking and choose a colour or two, and search out some papers.
but
Things don't always go as planned (do they?) - looking back through what I'd already printed, and thinking about the "two page book" project, I got caught up in "using what's there" rather than extending the field of operations.
These two had been stitched together, trying out various covers -
The alignment of the blocks isn't right - it should work as a totality, as in some of the traditional japanese books I so admire, these for example -
An improvement, but still not there - the proportions are awkward -
and here are some more waiting to be put together -
Thus the morning went on, consideration and deliberation mainly, but also realisation of the quantity of "stuff" already on hand, hastily (but enthusiastically) made. Rather than printing more, I decided to
finish the things on hand - as a number of successful artists have said, "take it to the end", don't abandon a project just because it's not meeting your expectations: there is much to learn on the way to "the end".
These pages, for example, were intended to have overprinting. I worked out a plan for "Sunrise/Moonrise" and got as far as deciding placement of the separate elements, but haven't decided on colours yet.
Just when you think it's sorted, you have a better idea ....
Now it can slush around in my subconscious for a week, and probably will be changed again. Just a little.
The subconscious will be looking out for suitable colours, too.
So interesting to hear out loud your thinking and process in going through these things. I recognize myself in much of it, and because of my stubborn and frugal nature often wonder if I'm just beating a dead horse as it were when I insist on working at something that is going awry and that I am certain others would have rightly given up on long ago. And so this line made me feel ever so much better because I have found it to be true in my own experience:
ReplyDelete"take it to the end", don't abandon a project just because it's not meeting your expectations: there is much to learn on the way to "the end".