Pick Your Poison: Reduction Cuts versus Moku Hanga

Proof of Eastern Amberwing Moku Hanga. Copyright 2020 by Ken Januski.

Multi-block woodcut of Blackpoll Warblers among Swamp Dogwood,  Copyright 2014 by Ken Januski.

This will be a very short post. I decided to write it after I took a look at my Etsy shop's stats for  last year and saw that the Blackpoll Warblers among Swamp Dogwood was by far the most viewed work  for 2019. But no sales.

It reminded  me of just how difficult it is to make any sense out of  web stats. It also reminded me of Robert Gillmor saying in 'Cutting Away' that he could never tell which prints would be popular. That is my experience. The ones that I think will be popular, largely often because I think that they are just plain good, often are not. Throwaways, in the sense that I did them relatively  quickly, are more popular than I would  have guessed. So as usual I just do what I like  and assume that my work will eventually find an  audience.

But the reduction part of the Blackpoll Warblers also  reminded me of  the blood, sweat and tears, and at one time volatile fumes as well, that accompany them. Though there was always something thrilling about doing them I eventually gave it up. I didn't find the mental wear and tear, coupled with piles and piles of print that had to be rejected as I made more changes, were worth  it. Surely there must be a better way.

For me that is moku hanga, as seen in a recent proof of an Eastern Amberwing.  There is still a fair amount to  do  and  I need to switch to at least one and perhaps two better papers for  the edition.

Why you might ask do I so prefer one over  the other? Well I'm sure that there are different answers for different people and I should also add that I don't really do traditional moku hanga. But I think the most telling  word is  this: organic. Everything about moku hanga seems organic: the materials used, the method of printing,  the many slow, at least for me, processes that make up moku  hanga.

In both reduction prints and in moku hanga, especially as I continue to  add blocks of new colors, it can seem like trying to juggle too many balls at the same time. With reduction cuts I was exhausted by the time I was done. Moku hanga can proceed at a much calmer pace, though of course this wasn't true  when it was done in its heyday in Japan I imagine since it was a business. But for me the lack of solvents, the ease of  printing, even though I recall that my first print proved no easier and probably harder than my first reduction print, the small space required to both carve and print all make it something that fits easily into my life. In many ways  it seems organic.

I say 'pick your poison'  in the title because the difficulty of both can make  them both occasionally seem like two unpleasant choices. But they both can create wonderful prints. The difference  I guess is that moku hang always seems to carry its own antidote  to the poison. Just sit back and take your time.

Would Stuart Davis Be Pleased?

Blackpoll Warblers and Swamp Dogwood. Five-color Woodcut Proof by Ken Januski.

Well I hope so! During my many years as an abstract artist the American artist Stuart Davis was at the top of my artistic pantheon for many years. There was something so vibrant and alive about his work, though he never really reached the heights of fame and appreciation that I think his work deserved.

I wasn't really thinking of him with this woodcut or the last one. But when I pulled this proof a short while ago, black on top of four other colors my first reaction was: Stuart Davis! Right now I'm very happy with this print. In the cold light of day however it may no longer look so good, nor so much like Stuart Davis. But my guess is that I'm going to remain happy with it.

At that point I'll need to decide whether to overprint the yellow block, the very first one, as I've thought about doing. Right now my inclination is not to, though I may just have to try it on a proof, just to see what it looks like. If I don't then I'll print the black on good paper and be done. All the other colors have already been printed on the Shin Torinoko paper.

In my long artistic journey as a bird/ wildlife/nature artist I've continually sought to be honest to birds and nature while still making art that doesn't look like its from 200 years ago. Right now I feel like this is close to accomplishing that. Then again, there is the cold light of day lingering around the corner.

Moving Along with the Blackpoll Woodcut

Blackpoll Warblers and Swamp Dogwood. Four Color Woodcut Proof by Ken Januski.

Blackpoll Warblers and Swamp Dogwood. Three Color Woodcut Proof by Ken Januski

One more beautiful day and I've been inside the entire day, working on this print. Oh well. If I didn't enjoy it and it wasn't important I would have delayed it and gone out and enjoyed the day.

We have a couple of 2.5 year old cats that tend to get into trouble, especially recently. My wife jokingly rationalizes this by saying that they're 'splorin, a contraction for exploring. Well I hate to be lumped in with those little troublemakers, but I too am 'splorin. This entire print is an exploration.

That is both the fun and the challenge of it. The top print shows the print in its most finished stage so far. But the black that is supposed to unify it and define the two Blackpolls dominates the print at this point. Tomorrow I need to make some final decisions on the bottom proof. Once I do I'll print the third color on good printmaking paper.

Then the real task will remain - deciding how much black to remove. And then deciding on whether or not to reprint any of the other three blocks on top of the black. I'm very tempted to print the first yellowish block. That will both tone down the black on the breasts of the Blackpolls and turn some of the pinks and roses a bit more orangey. At least that's how I visualize it.

Stay tuned.

Juggling Blackpolls and Woodcuts

Blackpolls and Swamp Dogwood. Yellow on Black Woodcut Proof by Ken Januski.

Blackpolls and Swamp Dogwood. Red on Black Woodcut Proof by Ken Januski.

The first warm weekend in spring is here and I'm inside working on this Blackpoll and Swamp Dogwood print. But that's fine. We birded early this morning, seeing our first American Kestrel of 2014, and then this afternoon I've been glued to my chair carving woodblocks and proofing them.

As I said this is very improvisatory, even more than the last mergansers and grebes multi-block woodcut. That leaves a lot that can go wrong. But it also leaves some room for excitement.

Above I tried two proofs, one of a yellow block on top of the black block and the next of a red block, just half the size of the black block printed on top of the black block.

I'm starting to see possibilities and excitement. However part of the excitement is transitory. I don't plan to print yellow or red over black but in fact the opposite. So most likely the print will never really look that close to the two proofs above.

Blackpolls and Swamp Dogwood. First Stage of Multi-block Woodcut by Ken Januski.
 

Above is the first color printed on good paper, Shin Torinoko. Here you can see that the yellow will be the bottom layer of color. But I do like the greenish effect of black over yellow. So tomorrow I'll proof some black, and red on top of the yellow block. If I like it I'll proceed. If not I'll have to leave somewhere in my plans for these four wood blocks (that's right I haven't mentioned the fourth yet) to reprint some of the yellow block over the black.

This sounds for more complicated than it is. Hopefully it will start to come together soon. I think the two proofs at top at least give a hint of just where it might go. In fact it's a bit like a warbler, ready to flit off in any direction at any moment.

Rambling with Pencil, Color and Theory

Blackpoll Warbler. Watercolor Sketch by Ken Januski

Blackpoll Warbler. Pencil Sketch by Ken Januski

Yes you would have a good right to question my honesty if I told you I recently saw this warbler. But there are some hints that it is fall and not spring due to the orange leaves, or should I say suggestion of leaves.

I'm working on ideas and sketches for a new somewhat abstract woodcut, similar to the one of the grebes and mergansers. Part of my idea in what I hope will be a series of such prints is that I needn't be limited, at all, by verisimilitude. I've always known this but it was reinforced recently while listening to a very lengthy introduction to music from The Teaching Company.

Music is of course the most abstract of the arts. It rarely is meant to represent something. But I was shocked to read about something, from the Renaissance, called non-imitative polyphony. In it two different themes are sung at the same time, creating counterpoint or polyphony. Often this was done with masses and in fact got to the  point where there was a reaction against it. So though one theme might be a recognizable song, often from the mass, the other, played at the same time, might be the most secular and non-religious of songs. I'm a beginner to music history to I hesitate to say more because I'll inevitably get it wrong.

But what struck me was that about 500 years ago composers felt free to experiment with even such solemn things as masses for decorative and emotional effect. There always was and always will be the desire on the part of artists to experiment. Even 500 years ago!!

Some musicians of that time felt free to mix and match in seemingly the most outrageous ways. Why I can't say for sure but I'd guess for artistic effect and expression.

What does this have to do with the visual arts, and particularly that fall Blackpoll Warbler seen among the Swamp Dogwoods at Maumee State Park? The sensation of color. What stuck with me more than anything else were the subtle colors of the warbler AND the pink/rose color of the Swamp Dogwood. There was an overall color harmony that was and is my most striking memory.

So just like non-imitative polyphony I'm going to take great liberties with the warbler in the interest of an overall color sensation.

The problem with this of course is that I could get so abstract so quickly that it would be easy to lose all moorings, all sense of connection to the warbler itself.

Blackpoll Warbler. Pencil Sketch by Ken Januski.

Blackpoll Warbler. Watercolor Sketch by Ken Januski.

That is where shape comes in. Many authors of bird field guides talk about the importance of shape in identifying birds. That's absolutely true. I recently had the pleasure of watching David Sibley discuss his working methods in a talk about the second edition of his famous guide to birds.

He said that he might look for 15 minutes or so before spending less than 30 seconds putting down the shape on paper. Details he could get later from photos. It was the shape that was important.

It is shape I think that gives life and individuality to birds. It's also one of the most pleasurable aspects of drawing. Sometimes when I'm sketching something it seems that there is nothing else of equal enjoyment in art. I felt that as I drew the three sketches of Blackpolls I'm showing here. I deliberately took photos of them before I added watercolor so as to accentuate the drawing itself.

In any case I think that shape can be an anchor in a more or less abstract painting or print. That is what I tried to do in the mergansers and grebes print and that's what I'll try to do if I make a print from the blackpolls. At the moment I'm just sketching trying to get a good sense of their shape. At some point I'll try to merge that with a much more abstract rendering of the pinks, oranges, and subtle yellow of the Blackpoll that I remember so well.

Blackpoll Warbler. Pencil Sketch by Ken Januski.

Blackpoll Warbler. Watercolor Sketch by Ken Januski

Snipe, Blackpolls, Dogwoods, Moorhens, Autumn Meadowhawks

Wilson's Snipe and Belted Kingfisher. Field Sketches by Ken Januski.

During the last week or so we've encountered herbicide spraying in a state park, deer archery hunting in a state park, unknown spraying and government shutdown affecting a National Wildlife Refuge we visited, even the transmogrification of the road leading to the NWR into a one-way road whose direction changed every few minutes due to road construction. I've never thought about having to worry about leaving an NWR and wondering if I was about to drive the wrong way into head-on traffic.

But this is what we remember from the week: Wilson's Snipe that seemed to forget anyone was near; ubiquitous, and that's an understatement, Blackpoll Warblers; almost as ubiquitous Autumn Meadowhawk dragonflies; large groupings of Common Moorhens; the only good look I've ever had at a Philadelphia Vireo;  Northern Swamp Dogwoods filled with warblers predictably at about 5 p.m., and strikingly beautiful on their own, with or without migrating birds; American Copper and Variegated Fritillary butterflies.

Though we enjoy spring birding which is accompanied by all the signs of spring there's surely something to be said for autumn birding when vegetation seems to have one last burst of color before winter. That color accentuates the subtle beauty of migrants like the Blackpoll Warbler. Together they make a visual feast.

The high point of the trip though I think had to be the Wilson's Snipe that we saw each of three days on the auto tour at Ottawa NWR near Toledo, OH. We always love to see snipe but rarely do. Most often is just a squawk and the sight of a vanishing shorebird that might or might not have been a Wilson's Snipe. Over three days in more or less the same location they seemed oblivious to humans and everything else. I took the opportunity to do the field sketches above. They're quick and nowhere near as developed as I'd like but they do capture their essence I think. It's had to notice much other than their long bill and striped back without really concentrating, something that's there's rarely time to do.

After doing a sketch I'd turn to photos hoping to get more detail from them and use the two for more developed work. But in most cases they were too far away to get as much detail as I would have liked in the photos. After I'd looked at them for awhile I decided to risk scaring them off by walking closer for a better look and photo. That's what happened below. Then I walked even closer and off this one went.

Wilson's Snipe at Ottawa NWR. Photo by Ken Januski.

Over a number of days we saw numerous warblers in a plant we later identified as a Northern Swamp Dogwood next to the nature center at Maumee Bay State Park, near Ottawa NWR. We were nearly knocked over by the warblers flying in and out of them. They're truly a beautiful shrub that are made even more so by their attractiveness to birds. We really didn't know all Blackpolls before we arrived in Ohio. We'd seen them occasionally but not often. Last week they were everywhere and they might have become our favorite bird, well at least MY favorite bird, next to the Wilson's Snipe. Below is one of many photos I took of them. I didn't try sketching them but almost think I could draw them from a mental image if I tried.

Blackpoll Warbler in Northern Swamp Dogwood at Maumee Bay State Park. Photo by Ken Januski

The last Philadelphia I thought I saw was also in this area, two years ago in the spring on the boardwalks of Magee Marsh/Crane Creek. But I just wasn't as certain as I would have liked. So I did a lot of studying of how they differed from Warbling Vireos. When this one popped up into a dead tree next to some of the Northern Swamp Dogwoods I had no doubt what it was. I just wish he'd stuck around for Jerene to see and me to sketch. His photo is below

Philadelphia Vireo at Maumee Bay State Park. Photo by Ken Januski

I do wish I had more sketches to show. And I'm severely limiting the photos I show. There should be a Cape May Warbler here, and a Rose-breasted Grosbeak, and one of many Common Moorhens, and Autumn Meadowhawk and Variegated Fritillary. But I'm just going to include this one last photo, of a bird we rarely get a good look at except in Illinois is fall.

Below is a Tennessee Warbler, with its extraordinarily short tail, perched in a shrub that, now that I look at it looks surprisingly like the Northern Swamp Dogwood. This picture was taken at Kickapoo State Park in central Illinois.

Tennessee Warbler at Kickapoo State Park. Photo by Ken Januski.

With sights like these who could be bothered by government shutdowns and closed parks everywhere we turned? Every obstacle took us to an alternate location that dished up something special.