Mike Lyon

Painting Drawing Printmaking Japanese Woodblock Printing Furniture Lighting

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Grass-2 large woodblock print 22.5 x 72 inches from 16 blocks

July 18, 2010 By Mike Lyon

My lawn seems a near-perfect subject for drawings and woodblock prints.  Grass-1 was a drawing (not yet completed).  Grass-2 is a woodblock print — sixteen blocks cut two blocks to a sheet of 4×8 foot quarter-inch cherry plywood.  Grass-3 is another drawing under construction at the moment.  This format allows me to ink and print a block all from one side of my 5 x 10 foot stationary bed pinch-roller press.  Images like this one lend themselves very well to my pr0cess.  The staccato rhythm of the many transitions from lightest to darkest works so nicely (so long as registration is perfect) and I love the way the quick changes in the blades of grass are moderated by slower visual rhythms of the relatively large clover and other leaves so there’s a bit of music in this print, and a bit of mystery and drama, I feel.  Not only the visual cycle of lights and darks, but also something about birth, death, and renewal.  My eye spirals through this image, following the shafts of the grass, pausing in the leaves, circling, circling, and I notice that some things are fresh and healthy and others seem to have been chewed up and decayed — and what’s going on under that surface?  Dirt and worms and…  This kind of (somewhat allegorical) image works for me on many levels and I don’t imagine I’ll grow tired of looking at it… Time will tell!

01 2010_07_16_grass_woodcut_21x69-2000px 'Grass-2', July 16, 2010, woodblock print, 22.5 x 72 inches, 16 blocks printed onto 8 sheets of hosho paper by Iwano Ichibei
011 2010_07_16_grass_press_cnc_carving computer controlled router carves block on sheet of quarter-inch plywood
011 2010_07_16_grass_press_cnc_carving2 another view of CNC machining area
015 2010_07_16_grass_printing_accessories Printing accessories, clockwise from lower left: larger mizu-bake (water brush), camelia oil (baren lubricant), pigment suspensions and pigment application brush, smaller mizu-bake, baren (printing pad), hanga bake (printing brush)
03 2010_07_16_grass_press_block_04_dampening_block Using misu-bake to dampen block
04 2010_07_16_grass_press_block_04_pigment-application applying pigment to dampened block
05 2010_07_16_grass_press_block_04_pigment-brushing using hanga-bake to brush pigment evenly into block
06 2010_07_16_grass_press_block_04_registration sliding sheet out of paper-delivery drawer and registering it to kento in block -- right foot about to tap switch to close drawer
07 2010_07_16_grass_press_block_04_rolling_r-l turning crank to print sheet
08 2010_07_16_grass_press_block_04 after printing block four -- prints in take-up drawer under press.
09 2010_07_16_grass_press_block_15 after printing block 15 -- sheets in take-up drawer under press
2010_07_16_grass_detail_1 detail of completed print
2010_07_16_grass_detail_2 detail of completed print
2010_07_16_grass_detail_3 detail of completed print
2010_07_16_grass_detail_sig detail of signature and seal on completed print

Filed Under: Featured, Video, Woodblock

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