"Aspen", Dec 8, 2003, 10.5 x 7.5 inches, woodblock print - 8 state reduction, Prussian Blue and Sumi on Nishinouchi paper

They’re printed on Nishinouchi paper from McClain’s.  Nishinouchi is a relatively thin washi for printmaking and is not the highest quality. It has a lot of variation in thickness over each sheet and a lot of clumps and impurities and the sizing is applied in a sloppy manner with many missed spots, especially around the edges. But it’s relatively inexpensive and strong enough to hold up to several over-printings if you’re very careful. I did lose two prints to holes where the paper just gave up the ghost in the darker areas.

Pigment is Prussian Blue pigment suspension and sumi, both from Daniel Smith mixed into a little home-brewed rice paste I cooked up from Lineco, Inc Neutral pH Pure Rice Starch (McClain’s now has some nice Japanese rice starch, too). I jury rigged a primitive sort of double boiler from my hot water pot heating some boiling water and into the shallow boiling water went a Pyrex cup containing of a couple teaspoons of rice starch in a half a cup of water. I stirred the paste mixture occasionally while heating until it became hot, clear, and thick. Then I cooled it and added a good amount of formalin (enough to make my eyes water a little) and the paste has kept well at room temperature in a sealed jar for a month. Without the formalin you’d want to make a fresh batch daily.

My primary model for almost a decade, Sarah had fallen asleep while modeling for this print. To me, her relaxed posture and features were so beautiful!

“Bijin” is a Japanese word which means “beautiful woman.” “Aizuri-e” means “blue picture.” Subject, color, and technique are traditional mid-19th Century Japanese, but the realistic image, composition, and the reduction carving of the block are quite Western. This print is a reduction woodcut, carved and printed entirely by hand using traditional Japanese woodblock printing techniques and materials (except, of course, for the reduction part).

"Sarah Reclining (bijin aizuri-e)" Aug, 2003, 16 x 22 inches, woodblock print (water based pigments) on washi

after four blocks

the block after eight carvings

after 10 blocks

after fourteen blocks

after seventeen blocks

Traditionally, each of the eighteen blocks for this print would have been carved by hand from separate pieces of wood. In order to save time and materials (but at increased risk), I carved only a single block laminated from three narrower planks of cherry wood. I like that you can still see the grain of the wood and a joinery seam in the finished print. For the various shades of blue which make up the colors in this print, I’d carve a bit, print each sheet, carve a bit more, print each sheet again a bit darker, etc. – eighteen times! Although I printed forty sheets, the damp paper sagged so much during printing that half wound up with ink blotches. Only twenty sheets could be editioned.

Dojo-ji Maiden:
A long time ago, a handsome young monk took shelter for the night in the home of a lonely widow. He awoke with a start when she crept into his bed. Entwining him within her arms and legs, she overcame his protests and he promised to remain with her and to be her husband. In the morning, she was so furious to discover that the young monk was already on his way that she died. A huge snake slithered from her room and pursued the monk to Dojo-ji where the priests concealed him under the temple bell. Coiling herself around the bell, her hot breath and burning embrace made the bell blaze white and she disappeared within the smoke. All that remained was a twisted heap of bronze and a small pile of ashes.

"Dojo-ji Maiden", 2000, 6 x 4 inches, woodcut with type (this is the version used for the "2001 Year of the Snake" postcard exchange)

four variations of Dojo-ji Maiden

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RUyi5oDihE

The  second stool has a birch seat with birch and cherry legs and spreaders. After considering the first stool, I turned the legs upside down, softened the seat, and voila! Sanded so smooth you can’t stop touching it, a nice oil finish, some wax, and voila! I donated this stool to the Kansas City Art Institute for its fancy auction fund-raiser, and was very gratified that they selected it for inclusion in the preview exhibition. Two local collectors bid hotly, and it finally went to the Gradingers for a bit over $650. Seemed fair, and I wasn’t a bit disappointed.

Blue Stool with deeply sculpted seat, 1998, 25" high, cherry wood, acrylic paint and polyurethane finish (photo: Al Surratt)

Stool, 1998, 25" high, cherry wood and birch wood, hand rubbed oil finish, collection of Pam & Gary Gradinger (photo: Al Surratt)