More Sessions

A couple shots from the ongoing print sessions:







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Print sessions

I've been hard in it this past week. Printing is going well with a few minor issues with registration on the 3rd plate. By about the first 10 proofs I mangaged to get things running smoothly and that was that! Here are a few pics thus far:

2008 Hanga Show

Its been quite a while since the last time I posted anything on here. But, a little time has passed, and I find myself at the same point where I left off last year........ the annual HGS print exchange in Takyama. This time around things are a little different though, I'm doing all of my work back in Canada. After returning from my year in Japan, I am now on the brink of returning for the show a mere 8 months later. I'll be posting more as things start to develop and take shape with my prints.

LAiNE

HGS Exchange

I've finally finished and successfully exchanged my print for this year's HGS moku-hanga exchange in Takayama. It was a fantastic experience and after having taken part in this exchange I feel like I've grown in a number of ways as a print artist. This was the first exchange of this scale that I've taken part in, and I'm looking forward to continuing on to do more in the future. It was especially cool to be the first and only foreigner to part of this long standing group. My presence was even covered by one of the newspapers in Nagoya....... why me I don't know. I certainly wansn't the most skilled artist there....... maybe it was the red hair? >_<

here are a few snaps of the event, the article, and the print iteslf: (excuse the bad scan of the print...... my scanner is quite poor)

Living Room Studio

Life has been incredibly busy in the sudio these days. Although it technically isn't a studio, and more so just my living room, it has been very active with an edition of prints I'm working on for the Takayama exchange coming up in 2 weeks. I have successfully printed my first 4 layers of color with only the last remaining. I'm currently in the middle of printing the final color and I am pretty happy with the results so far. Some areas could be be better...... small spots where registration has been lost, and a few spots where I haven't been able to get even inking and/or baren pressure. In the end, however, I think its only inevitalbe givin my rather beginner level and the sheer number in the edition. In total I have printed aproximately 140 prints (tests included), but in the end I am aiming to have a solid edition of 100 with the remaining as tests and artist proofs. Here are a couple snaps from the psudo-studio that I've been dabbling in!

Feb 17.07 -> Quick Update

Just a quick update from the studio........... for the last week and a half I've been working hard on my hanga for the Takayama exchange in early April. So far I've completed 3 of the 6 wood plates that I'll be doing for this particular print. Its presenting a few challenges, but for the most part everything is going well, and I'm really enjoying this project. The wood is much softer than the last wood I used, and there is much more detail in this particular design. I'm finding it difficult to keep every spec of detail, but as a whole I think that I'm doing pretty well. In the end, I think that any lost details will only add to the hand-made nature of this piece. Here are a scans of the plates in their various stages of completion........

Feb 1.07 -> Rough Days

Its been a rough go the last week as I've been trying to get things together for my upcoming Takayama print exchange. I've been having real difficulty pinning down a design for my print, but finally reached something concrete today. Along the way I've scrapped 3 earlier designs to arrive at the design I have now. In anticipation of the upcoming sakura blossom season here in Japan I've themed my print around the colors and suggestions of cherry blossoms. It will be interesting to see how my print is received given the fact that I've never experienced a blossom season here in Japan, and only know it through imagery I've seen elsewhere. Its nice to finally have something together now, and I can put my current robot project aside for a little while and focus on this new print. Meanwhile, I've sent my tools in to the cutlery hall to get professionally sharpened before I start on my next project.

A side note........

here is a link to a few pics from the pottery studio and a shot of some of the pottery that I've been making here in Japan. We have a wonderful location to create pottery, and an even better sansei!!!

POTTERY