Taking a break

I was really getting tired of my brush calligraphy.

Every stroke was a chore.  I had no flow.  I was flustered. 

I was told that this is a sign of energy not flowing and it would be pointless to continue.  So I looked for a diversion.  I painted instead.

The painting was done on sized Xuan, the same piece that I aborted my brush calligraphy on.   This paper is better able to retain the original brilliance of the pigments used.   I used it for calligraphy practice because it was scrap and was easily within reach!

The painting was done without much thought process nor planning.   I did it just so I didn't have to practice my calligraphy.  It just flowed.  I am now looking for ways to crop this so I can present it in a proper format.

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I have lots of time to muse over this.

Crash and Burn, attempting woodblock

I took the prints from my first attempt at wood cut to my teacher, who happened to be an expert in this field.  My teacher excelled in woodcut prints while studying art in France.

I wasn't ready for the appraisal I received.  Nothing about the print was right.  Not one iota!

I was trying to state my case.  The wood was too hard.  I used a crooked pine board.   I used ink instead of the proper print paint.  I didn't have a roller.  The paper I used was not card stock.  I really liked the feel of it.  I tried to demonstrate a spatial relationship of the 2 trees.  There was variation of in ink tone.

My teacher demanded to see my carving knives, which I did not bring.  I asked instead for my teacher to base the critique purely on the merits of the image alone.  Why must one involve my carving knives.  Why couldn't we talk about whether the print surface was properly primed or not.  So the discussion evolved to discussion of whether one could do proper Chinese brush calligraphy with a brush for house painting, or must oil painting be done on canvas, etc.

After much discussion, the take away I got was that there are distinct traits of merit for every discipline.  For example we kept talking about bi-fa in brush strokes, be it brush calligraphy or brush painting.  Correspondingly, wood cuts need to demonstrate the way of the knife, for lack of better terms.  It was this lack of knifesmanship that doomed my print.  I failed to demonstrate any control of the edge.  What I deemed as pleasing, i.e. the wood grain coming through, the mottled look etc. should not be and could not be a substitute for proper cutting technique.

This reminded me of my own blog  Isn't Being Cute Enough?  I was too preoccupied with the First Time fever to see it.  I fell into the same pit.  Thus my lack of skill in wood cut was not concealed by
any sorts of pretence;  at least not in the eye of someone who knows.  The advice for me:  don't rely on gimmicks to save me.  Learn to do it properly.

This is what I like about my teacher.  The ability to conduct open, thought provoking discussions.

Attempting Woodblock

I had grown increasingly dissatisfied with my brushstrokes, and my calligraphy.  I sensed that I was placing too much emphasis on the shape rather than the energy.  I was tracing instead of writing.

I thought doing some woodcut might be a good diversion.
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I had never done woodcut before, but this "First Time" trepidation was exactly the motivation I needed.  I had a piece of scrap pine board left over from frame making.  Perfect material for trial and error.

I thought I would do trees.  Simple lines, and a good challenge to be able to show spatial relationship of the limbs.

I started out by painting 2 trees onto this block of wood.   I wasn't concerned about mirror image or upside down or else.  Que sera sera!   My goal was to have two trees with a few overlapping branches.  My challenge would be to show which limb is in the back.

Initial draft and scribing

 

 

 

Close-up on woodcut

 

 

Since this was my maiden voyage into woodcuts, I was anxious to see if this would fly at all.  I dabbed ink onto the one tree that I had finished so far and laid a piece of Xuan on it.  I used a piece of dry dish washing scrub pad for the rub out since I did not have a roller at my disposal.  The result was better than expected.  I was particularly happy with the wood grain from the pine board showing up.  The beading was probably due to the virgin wood surface, as the ink had not yet soaked into the wood fiber.  I was able to showcase the different ink tones.

Finished board with ink

 

Print made from the woodcut.

 I was not able to achieve the same drama with different ink tones.  The wood fibers were wet now and they seemed to have diffused the ink for me.

I did not like the hanging branch on the right.  It was ostentatiously annoying.  So I lopped it off.   The resulting image is more coherent .  Amazing how a little alteration goes a long ways.

I brushed  concentrated ink onto the left tree and diluted ink onto the other, creating a contrast between the two stands.  I printed on the bamboo paper for calligraphy.  This paper is more absorbent than the regular Xuan.  Instead of using the scrub pad I used my fingers to press down on the paper.  I was able to modulate the pressure at various spots, resulting in a print with varied intensity and emphasis.

I used broken lines to define the spatial arrangement of the limbs.  Branches that are in the back received the broken line treatment (areas circled in red).  This is a technique frequently used in Chinese brush painting.  For further discussion of this topic please refer to my blog on More Than Just Broken Lines dated 3/29/12.

I am quite tickled with my first attempt at woodblock.  I would definitely pursue this further in the days to come.