art, birds, nature: Three Red Knots, Ten Warblers and Some Laughing Gulls

Friday, July 2, 2021

Three Red Knots, Ten Warblers and Some Laughing Gulls

It's been quite a while since I've posted anything and I am well aware of that. To make a very long story short I was worried about making my last print a bit too painterly and thus introducing more technical problems into moku hanga than I wanted to deal with. This was especially true because I'm not enamored of technique, though I can admire it in others. It's just not where I want to spend my time and energy.

So I've been thinking about a way to continue moku hanga but with simpler shapes, perhaps more outlines and less need for getting extremely small areas to register correctly. Basically this just means using the strengths of an artistic medium in concert with my own artistic strengths.

I've been working on this print of some Red Knots and Laughing Gulls for about a month. It was prompted by a news report of a great decline in the count of Red Knots along the Delaware Bay this spring. This print is based on photos and field sketches from there from 2019. Most likely this is the final test proof and I'll start printing an edition soon. This proof is on Masa Dosa.

So.................it may be that my moku hanga will continue in a simpler manner such as you see here. Time will tell. But speaking of painterly that really is my background. I've spent more time as a painter than a printmaker though that is slowly changing. In the spring of last year I did my first acrylic painting of an American wood warbler. Once I started I couldn't stop. So over the next year I painted the seven paintings and ten warbler species that you see below. It was greatly liberating to have the painterly freedom that most printing lacks.

But now for a change it's nice to be back in a more disciplined medium.