Happy Spring! It's the weekend of the tulip festival in Lewes. We're having typical spring weather, warm and sunny followed by cold and rainy. Great weather for planting roses (I did) and viewing tulips in bloom! They are everywhere here!
I have worked for several weeks pulling Mokuhanga prints from the blocks I have already carved. I feel like I have a good working knowledge of the carving, even if I'm still learning. The printing needs much work. So for practice, I have been making proofs experimenting with the sky, the gradations, the layering and multiple blocks. Here is a greatly improved (over my first attempts) print of Kubuta Gardens in Seattle. The blocks are 8 x 10 and there are 4 blocks (there were 5 but one was too redundant so I eliminated it). There are 8 colors and 13 passes in this print. I'm pleased with the sky and certain aspects of the scene and will keep making prints of this. The gradation in the background foliage was very challenging since it is all on one block. I like the composition. It's printed on Okawara paper.
I started carving a block for a Mokuhanga print from the same scene I made a white line print of last year. I am just carving the Key block now. I transfer my image by drawing it in very soft (5B) graphite pencil and then rubbing it on to the block. I discovered if I then put a thin wash of Nori on the block and let it dry, the graphite stays put and doesn't smudge when I start carving! I wish I had thought of this years ago, I have this problem in my white line prints also! This is an 8 x 10 block and I haven't decided how many blocks I will use for the print.
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