It always seems to happen that the pieces of art that I do off the cuff are the more popular of my works. I get a lot of response from this particular print, which was actually done as a part of a workshop where I learned the Moku Hanga water color woodcut technique from master printers from japan. I ended up sending most of these proof prints as gifts to the men and women who ran the workshop. The print was never actually finished and I had only printed 7 of them as proofs. Now I plan to finish it up… It was never that far off from being done and living with it for awhile has allowed me to grow to like it as is. But one must move on. I’ll post a couple of progress shots of the printing process when I’m done printing the edition (by the end of May… my own mini celebration of spring)
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The making of this print from the book “river” was pretty different experience for me. Using abstract colors and color combinations to attempt to convey one of the more abstract ideas from the book. At first I had felt like this particular print was a failure but the more I look at it the more it grows on me. When I first showed the book at the Flanders Gallery in Raleigh I was surprised at the response to this particular print. It seemed to garner the most attention and was many people’s favorite from the book. It comes from a part in the story where the river is about to finally take a rest from it’s constant flowing. In essense, the river is actively instituting its own peace for itself at the expense of everything around it. When I first conceived the story, this pivital moment I likened to those moments of selfish choice in our own lives and the consequences they lead to. Now looking back it forces me to re-examine the notion of peace I’ve become accustomed to and perhaps most importantly how that idea is connected to all other things.
I promise to post the entire story in the near future…check back soon.
River print 1
The first print from my new book River.