Spring Plein Air

Outdoorsy, high in the pines, on the deck, mountain dwelling, painting. It doesn't stink. Another spring trying my hand at plein air painting. I like it and I don't. It's distracting and nervy, not to mention frustrating toting equipment to locations and the time setting up just to make a mark. Still, I try.

In the pines 10x12" oil on panel ©2013

Worktable Wednesday - Printing Again

At long last, the sun. I was beginning to lament that we would be socked in fog for another 4 weeks so I high tailed it up to the mountains where I was sure to be able to expose my SUN plates so that I could start printing.

Sure enough, the second day home it's been nothing but beautiful, bright shining days. Still, I have plates to print which makes me happy. Dog prints no less. I do have more landscape images in the works but the dog obsession has not diminished one iota, so why not... dog prints!

Moku Hanga - you ask?!

This summer I had the pleasure of taking a Japanese woodblock printing course. Moku Hanga ... Moku meaning wood and Hanga, print or graphic. I have been enamored for many years with images from Crown Point Press particularly Wayne Thiebaud's color woodblocks. They look like watercolors and I could not, for the life of me, figure out how it was done... until now.

American or Western style woodblock printing uses brayers to roll a coating of ink onto the block which results in a very solid, opaque color. The paper is dry and often run through a traditional printing press, although not always.

The Japanese style differs because you are working wet on wet... water based ink brushed onto dampened wood and brushed like you were shining your shoes to spread the ink evenly. Then a lightweight Japaneze paper, (Washi, Kozo, Iyo, or the like) which has been dampened and left overnight to evenly moisten, is then placed over the inked plate and transferred to the paper by rubbing with a hand baren. What it gives you is such a beautiful, delicate, transparent quality. Absolutely delicious.

I am only at the beginning of my learning and experimenting. Like most printing techniques, there is a lot of variables to be mastered. How wet should the paper be, how much ink, how hard to press the baren and for how long to get an even distribution on the paper, how much rice paste to add to the ink, how to make sizing glue and size the paper. All this without even considering the design or carving of the block.

Here is my first attempt in class (I know I know I'm always over eager and ambitious on my first try).

carving the blocks

kelp tide

I had done a painting of this image that I really liked and was trying the composition in the graphic medium. I was happy with the image, not so much the color. Since each color was a separate block I am able ink and re-ink to my heart's content. I wasn't totally unhappy with the result.

Here are the many tools of this particular medium....

brushes and inks

assorted brushes, barens and rice paste

My second image in class I still have not perfected. It was another image, first painting, then etching, now woodblock. The etching is the inspiration (upper right hand corner). I did not have great tools, but rather a kindergarten carving set (or what it felt like anyway) so I did not get the line work I wanted. There is still a way to fix the image I just haven't gotten back to it since acquiring my semi professional tools... that are sharp! Key... sharp tools make for fun while working.


I have at last begun carving some images in my studio. It has taken a few months to amass all the accoutrement needed to go from starting point (carving) to finish line (printing). The top image is the key block print for my very first 3 color block print, solo. It is inspired by the painting Canyon View that was shown through the Sundance Catalog.

The top image is the block print and smaller black images are sumi studies for future blocks.

Canyon View

Below is a block finished this morning. The print is the key block, which IF I choose to do more than one color would be used to align the registration marks on the next block. I do like the simple black on white.


Here is the look of the block once the image is transferred from the rice paper to the woodblock. It is first drawn onto a thin washi paper with a dark pencil and then rice paste is applied evenly to the wood surface. The paper with the pencil image is then put face down into the rice paste and slowly, carefully rubbed away until the only thing left is the drawing on the wood. Beautiful.

Here is the sketch which was transferred to the rice paper. A new series? possibly. For some reason I'm drawn to this cavern, cut away, hole in the mountain, feat of man for man, coastal, composition..... okay I'm just talking, I'm not sure what it means yet but I like it.

Two Thousand Three

Fears abounding,
racing, pounding
old friends - a comfortable fearful blanket.

Take me by surprise.
Fearful of where I have been
Fearful of decisions made
Fearful of love lost
and fearless fear.

Alarmed at the manner
I allowed myself
to be diminished -
I'm finished - soaked
socked, doped.

Take me by surprise
Desire, passion
possession, wont
craving attention
crave of retention
want of unrelenting
convention. Love.

Fear not, wanting.
Fear not, longing.
Fear not, dependence.

Take me by surprise
seasons pass
time extends
heart releases
and road bends.

Sketchbooks

Two days at the Arroyo Hondo Preserve. Bliss-filled days of drawing.

Wednesday's Worktable

I have been working daily with my small printed images, making many plates with a variety of matrices using the same drawings of my jasmine vine.

The process can be a long one before even getting to the printing of the image. It's hard to know if what I have will work, definitely one of the pluses AND minuses of printing.
















Sometimes I just want to see color and results. This past weekend I pulled out my old tray of gouache..... an old Pelikan, double tray, school set that I bought years ago to play with. It's actually quite good for being student grade.

















I made copies of some of the prints and then used a Chartpak blender pen to transfer the image into my sketchbook, applied Frisket to the areas I wanted to keep clean and then went at the images with my paint. Happiness is color.

This was a means of instant gratification, color study for future prints and a nice way to spend an afternoon.