Japan and Cornwall are obvious inspirations and I’m lucky to be able to spend time between both. I live on a farm and am very close to the coast, so it’s literally in every breath. My work draws a lot from the abstraction of nature here in Cornwall and I would definitely say the outdoors and nature play a big part and have become integral to my work. I’m heavily influenced by artists from both the Naive movement and the Sosaku movement and am a big believer in being experimental in my printmaking but at the same time maintaining and improving one’s skills. I try not to be too serious within my work, pushing to evolve a style and approach which suits me as a printmaker. My woodblock prints are playful, semi abstract snippets of my ramblings still life with abstraction. I’m fascinated by Japanese aesthetics and find the subtlety of woodblock printing captivating. Lisa: Can you tell us about your own prints – how has your work developed since you started working with this process? How would you describe the work that you make?Īdrian: I’d say my style and approach is a contemporary one but with a strong focus on traditional methods and techniques. Woodblock print on Awagami Okawara Select 51gsm, Edition of 8 It’s also a much more eco-friendly approach something which is good to be aware of when making art. This combined with the use of Japanese paper give the overall print its unique qualities, sometimes showing the lovely texture of the wood and the properties of the Japanese papers. Obviously water is an important element throughout the process. The use of watercolours gives the finished print a beautiful organic quality and the results tend to be more subtle and delicate compared to say a western style of woodcut that uses thicker based inks such as oils. Other water based mediums such as watercolour or gouache are a common choice for those who find grinding their own pigments a daunting task. Traditionally the printmaker will use ground pigments called ganryo. Most printmakers are really only used to acrylic and oil based inks in for western relief print techniques…Īdrian: Mokuhanga lends itself to water-based ink mainly due to the type of materials used in the process. Lisa: Can you describe what it’s like printing with water-based inks, as is traditional with this process. Inking up with a brush that resembles a shoe polish brush Like I say not much is needed to begin with so give it a go. If you want to emulate a baren then you could cut a circle disc of card board and wrap an old handkerchief around or even and old pair of tights – anything smooth to help the disc slide around the back of the paper.
#Moku hanga shoeshine brush skin
If you don’t have a baren (a circular disc with a bamboo skin around it) you can use your hand or a wooden spoon, or even a pebble. Something to burnish the back of the paper when printing. Some paper, again any paper is fine to begin with, brushes of some kind, a few old shoe polish brushes if you have them…these are used for spreading the pigment onto the block.
Basic materials to print which are a must, would be traditional watercolours in tubes, poster paints, any paint really but water- based is best. Assuming you have done all your carving of the woodblock, which can be done with some basic cutting tools and some type of wood MDF and plywood are great choice if you have nothing else. Try not to get hung up about not having all the best tools, just go for it. Lisa: What materials at an absolute minimum would you say you need to start printing?Īdrian: So yes materials are important but what’s nice about Mokuhanga is one can attempt it with very little equipment – a DIY approach if you like. A few of the more time consuming methods were simplified but the quality of the prints were made to same standard using traditional tools and materials.Ĭarving using the traditional Hangi To tool Inevitably changing the way prints could be made. The traditional division of labour from artist, carver, printer and publisher (often seen in ukiyo-e prints) was replaced by artists and printmakers who were competent in all areas of the woodblock process.
It was an movement which became popular with artists wanting to make prints for art sake rather than merely for reproduction and commercial purposes. The term Sosaku hanga basically translates to ‘Creative prints’, this was a artistic movement that began at the end of the 19th century /early 20th century. Its really just the basic term for woodblock printing and I would say encompasses the traditional process as a whole. Moku meaning wood and Hanga meaning print. Can you just quickly tell us the main differences between the two?Īdrian: So yes, I would say Mokuhanga is the general Japanese term to describe Woodblock printing. Lisa: On your website there is comprehensive knowledge of Mokuhanga and Sosaku Hanga.