First Moku Hanga Print

Nashville Warbler on Bean Trellis in Winter. Moku  Hanga Print by  Ken Januski.

For quite some time I've debated trying Moku Hanga printmaking. As best I can tell the term itself just refers to Japanese woodblock or  woodblock  printmaking. Most  people will probably be familiar with it through ukiyo-e prints, such as those by Utamaro, Hokusai, Hiroshige et al.

Though I've always liked those prints I suspect I first liked them more for their influence on the art of people  like Edgar Degas than for any other reason. That is no longer the case but it was my first reaction to them. Now my interest is completely different. It is more related to things like the use of  non-toxic materials(since the ink  is water-based not petroleum  based), the fact that it can be done without a printing press, though this has been true  of all my other prints as well, that it has a registration system that most likely is  better than the one I've used in the past, and perhaps most of all it is capable of a rich color, a color that actually is absorbed into the paper, rather than lying  on top of it.

Though I'd read the last statement before, the fact that the color merges with the paper,  you  actually need to see it to understand it. Now I have! It can be seen in the two prints above and below of a Nashville Warbler  on a Bamboo Bean Trellis in Winter,  which we had in our backyard on and off over a two week period a number of winters ago.

These two prints also show at least one of the problems with this type of printmaking:  the background color, in particular, varies greatly between prints. I began printmaking about 5-6 years ago I  think, though  I had had a brief introduction in college. The more I've done it the more I  remember why I shied away from it in college. Printmakers seemed SO interested in technique! At the time that was the last thing that I thought art should  be about. But after my 5+ years of printmaking I realize that technique is an integral part of  it,  at least if you want to make an edition, i.e . more than one more or less consistent print  of the same image. And given all the work involved, at least when I make a print, it seems silly to not have more to show for  it than just one print.

Still I don't like having to worry about technique. It's a necessity, not a virtue, not something I seek out. That said I've seen some moku hanga prints that are extremely rich in color and that is  something that I think is desirable enough to more than compensate for  the technical problems involved. At least I hope so! Time will tell.

Another thing I love in many ukiyo-e prints is the sinuous, graceful line, based most often on the sinuous, graceful line of the original brush paintings on which the prints were based. For  me there at two huge obstacles to doing this myself: first I can't do graceful, sinuous brush paintings, and to do so would  probably take  years  of practice; and second, I'll never  become such an accomplished carver of wood as to translate sinuous lines from paint to carved wood. In ukiyo-e prints this was no problem because the artist and the carver were two different people! And the printer was a third person involved in the process. This helps to explain some of the accomplishments of this type of print. And it also shows the difficulty of doing it today.

There seem to be quite a few contemporary Western printmakers using moku hanga today, each in their own way. From what I can see many skip the part based on graceful, sinuous lines and instead are more interested in rich color fields. I know of some art in this manner that I greatly like. But it's not for me, at least not at the moment. So crude as my lines might be I plan to continue  to use  them in my prints. Only time will tell how I come into my own interpretation of moku hanga.  Above and below you see the first.

Nashville Warbler on Bean Trellis in Winter. Moku  Hanga Print by  Ken Januski

All printmaking seems to require a lot of time in the studio. So I was happy a couple of  times recently to  leave prints and printmaking behind and head outside. Below you see two recent field sketches. As you may be able to tell they are done with a brush pen, something that resembles a Chinese  or Japanese brush but that comes with a reservoir of ink. It may be hard to believe but when I first started using them a year or two it was with the idea of developing the sinuous, graceful line that I talked about above. I find it far more refreshing that a labored pencil sketch,  at least for myself.

Great Blue Heron and Killdeer at Manayunk Canal. Brush Pen Field Sketch  by Ken Januski.

Two Great Blue Heron in Trees Along Manayunk Canal. Brush Pen Field Sketch by Ken Januski.

Cape May Field Sketches - Part Five

American Coot at 'The Meadows.' Field Sketch by Ken Januski.

Unusual circumstances found us back in Cape May, NJ for the second time this fall, not a bad place to be of course. Though it's always tempting to reach for the camera first, especially for rarities, I tried to force myself to first reach for the sketchbook.

With the exception of the one more developed pencil sketch of a Cattle Egret and Ring-billed Gull all of the sketches are done with various brush pens. After a week of such drawings I was more firmly convinced of how much I like them and how I ought to stick with them.

They of course don't offer the detail of pencil or ballpoint pen but they do offer the sense of fluidity and spontaneity. This is more important to me and is much more likely, at least for me, to lead to a more developed print or painting.

The one more developed sketch by the way was more developed only because the Cattle Egret was so cooperative alternately strutting and meandering around the lawn adjacent to the Cape May Point State Park parking lot. I was able to sit on a bench set up my scope and sketch him. Of course he didn't sit still but I was eventually able to see him enough times in one more or less similar position to do the pencil sketch. When he disappeared I turned to the far more stationary gull.

Cattle Egret at Cape May Point State Park. Field Sketch by Ken Januski.

Cattle Egret at Cape May Point State Park. Field Sketch by Ken Januski.

Cattle Egret and Ring-billed Gull at Cape May Point State Park. Field Sketch by Ken Januski.

Eastern Phoebe and Yellow-rumped Warbler in Cape May. Field Sketch by Ken Januski.

Immature Hermit Thrush at Rea Farm. Field Sketch by Ken Januski.

Long-billed Dowitchers and Killdeer at 'The Meadows.' Field Sketch by Ken Januski.

Long-billed Dowitchers. Field Sketch by Ken Januski.

Long-billed Dowitcher and Yellow-rumped Warbler. Field Sketch by Ken Januski.

Long-billed Dowitcher at 'The Meadows.' Field Sketch by Ken Januski.

Field Sketching Around Cape May - Part Four

American Bittern in a Tree. Brush Pen Field Sketch by Ken Januski

I think it's been three years since I've posted on field sketching in Cape May, NJ. As I recall we've been there in 2014 and 2015 but most likely I just didn't do enough field sketches to bother to show.

In any case this fall I made a more concerted effort, though based on what you see below that may be hard to believe. Over a total of six days I have only these few sketches, none of them very developed. There are a couple of reasons for this: birds didn't cooperate by standing still at a reasonably close distance, I was too busy trying to identify them, I was worried about my wife Jerene getting bored as I sketched or sometimes it was just too windy, too rainy, etc., etc.

One day gave great views of Ruddy Turnstone and other shorebirds on one of the jetties at Stone Harbor. But it had been a long day and it was time to leave. I figured that was alright as we'd just come back another day. But when we did there were no birds on jetty on either day. It was too windy on one day. And there were few birds on the other day. The Piping Plover, American Oystercatcher and hint of a Dunlin are from that day.

Field sketching though is a very rewarding experience. I'd say that more than half of the linocuts and woodcuts I've done are based on field sketches. A good number of recently sold prints and watercolors were as well. There is just so much more of a connection to your subject matter when you are sketching it live than when you are working from photos.

As I've written about this many times before I won't repeat myself, at least anymore than I already have. In the weeks and months that follow I'm sure I'll be showing some artwork based on these sketches. The Sora is the one that seems to be calling loudest at the moment.

American Oystercatcher and Dunlin. Brush Pen Field Sketch by Ken Januski

Killdeer. Brush Pen Field Sketch by Ken Januski

Laughing Gull. Brush Pen Field Sketch by Ken Januski.

Merlin. Brush Pen Field Sketch by Ken Januski.

Ruddy Duck and immature Peregrine Falcon. Brush Pen Field Sketch by Ken Januski.

Piping Plover and Tri-colored Heron. Brush Pen Field Sketch by Ken Januski.

Ruddy Turnstone and Snowy Egret. Brush Pen Field Sketch by Ken Januski.



Snowy Egret. Brush Pen Field Sketch by Ken Januski.

Sora. Brush Pen Field Sketch by Ken Januski.

Immature Yellow-crowned Night Heron. Brush Pen Field Sketch by Ken Januski.

Trials and Rewards of Ink Drawing and Painting

Black Crowned Night Heron, Greater Yellowlegs and Short-billed Dowitcher. Brush Pen Sketch by Ken Januski.

I first saw the possibilities of working in ink when doing life drawing through adult education classes in San Francisco many years ago. I'm sure this was precipitated by examples from Matisse and Picasso as well as the more contemporary Richard Diebenkorn and Elmer Bischoff, the latter two more for their use of line and wash rather than just line as with Matisse and Picasso. In any case once I tried it myself I was thrilled, particularly in doing large, very quick drawings from live poses.

I really haven't been too successful in using ink with wildlife art, particularly bird art though I have done quite a bit of it. I think the main reason is that the pens I used didn't have as much fluidity as I would have liked. That has changed however ever since I started using the Kuretake Brush Pen and to a lesser extent pens from other manufacturers. Since they're made to mimic oriental brushes it's no surprise that they have a lot of expressive possibility.

Nonetheless ink is also fairly unforgiving. You can't erase mistakes. Either try to work around them or start a new drawing. I've done more than my share of bad drawings so far in 2016. But the ones on this page from today and yesterday are fairly successful in my estimation.

The one at top is based on a photo that is quite a few years old. It has always struck me as full of possibility: all those Greater Yellowlegs with one Short-billed Dowitcher and then the barely visible Black-crowned Night Heron looming over them. I think finally I've captured some of the possibilities of that photo.

If you look at much wildlife art, online or elsewhere, you can see a whole lot of big expressive eyes and a lot of fur and feather details. Someone must go for this because there is a never-ending torrent of it. I'll say no more than that the type of work I'm showing here is in deliberate contrast to it. It is very difficult to believe that the same subject can create such thoroughly different responses.

Great Blue Heron. Brush Pen Sketch by Ken Januski.

As I've mentioned before I'll sometimes work from a particular photo, or even take that photo in the first place, because I can see the entire bird, feet and all. That was the case with this Great Blue Heron seen at Maumee State Park a couple of years ago. I like to see the feet as well because they are very important in showing how the bird has distributed his weight. It adds to the sense of life, much more so than the glint in the big eye of some bird in a more 'realistic' painting or drawing.

Great Blue Heron. Brush Pen Sketch by Ken Januski.

I do think Great Blue Herons must have just about the most predictably interesting shapes of all birds in the eastern U.S. That was the motivation in the remaining sketches on this page. Their shapes are just too interesting to pass up. I only wish I'd had a better view of the feet!

Great Blue Heron. Brush Pen Sketch by Ken Januski.

Bald Eagles on Nest Brush Painting

Bald Eagles on Nest at Tinicum. Brush Painting by Ken Januski

I've fallen into a deep hole here with Chinese brush painting, or at least my version of it. The cold weather of January and February often finds me working from my photos, much as I dislike the practice. The same is true this year except that I'm using brush and ink or a brush pen. And, I'm processing the photos through my understanding of Chinese brush painting, limited though that may be.

It has proved very satisfying. Eventually all of this work will manifest itself in either woodcuts or linocuts. Most likely they won't look much like this. But winter for me is often a time for studying and practicing, trying to learn birds better and in this case also learn Chinese brush painting better. One day I hope it will all make sense.

Above are two Bald Eagles, one of them on nest, seen at Heinz NWR a few days ago. Bald Eagles have nested there for many years now and it remains a thrill to see them there and at other places throughout Philadelphia.

Fall Female Yellow-rumped Warbler. Brush Painting by Ken Januski.

An observant reader will have noticed that the last three paintings use subjects whose name starts with 'Y'. That's because I'm working my way through my collection of photographs, seeing what strikes my fancy, and I've gotten to the end of the alphabetized collection. Above and below are fall and spring Yellow-rumped Warblers. also done as Chinese brush paintings.

Spring Male Yellow-rumped Warbler. Brush Painting by Ken Januski.

And last but not least one of the birds we most enjoyed seeing last year, the Yellow-breasted Chat. We saw quite a number of them at Cape May last spring. And accompanying them a juvenile Yellow-crowned Night Heron, seen along the Manayunk Canal many years ago in the middle of summer. These drawings are done with a brush pen. It of course doesn't have the tonal richness of brush and ink but I do like the way it forces me to simplify birds into just a few lines.

Yellow-Breasted Chat at Juvenile Yellow-crowned Night Heron. Brush Pen Painting by Ken Januski.

Writing Ideas

Northern Mockingbird. Brush Pen and Sumi Sketches by Ken Januski.

...Several times we have had occasion to allude to the careful and spontaneous styles. Let us now turn to this important matter.
The opposition between these two styles is a reflection of the opposition on a deeper level between two extreme attitudes possible for an artist: academic realism and free expression of mood. Technically speaking, the two styles are made possible by the extraordinary versatility of the Chinese brush, which can range from a quill-like hairline to the broad slashing of flying white or splashed ink -- all executed with the same brush. In Chinese the careful style is called kung pi, meaning roughly 'industrious brush' or 'laboring brush.' The spontaneous style is hsieh yi, literally 'writing ideas.'

Fritz van Briesen, The Way of the Brush: Painting Techniques of China and Japan,p.179-180, published by Tuttle Publishing.

The above quote isn't immediately relevant to the sketches pictured above, mainly because I'm a rank beginner at brush painting, with actual sumi brush or with the much more modern brush pen. But reading this excellent book has crystalized to some extent my thoughts on brush painting and on my goals in a more western type of painting, especially in regards to nature and wildlife. After reading this passage this morning I deliberately painted the sketches on right above with just a sumi brush with the purpose of illustrating my own, very amateurish 'spontaneous' style.

As will probably be obvious to anyone who's read much of this blog I lean much more in the direction of the spontaneous style. And most wildlife art, especially that shown in the US leans, quite heavily toward the academic style.

I studied Chinese brush painting for one semester a few centuries ago in San Francisco. Its appeal has always stayed with me though I haven't pursued it. My recent foray into brush pen sketches was precipitated by a desire to vary my lines in the prints I create, much as the sumi brush can and does. That started about six months ago I'd guess. But once I started I got seduced first by the brush pen, and just this week, by an actual sumi brush, though one too large for the paper I'm working on.

Eventually I do hope that exploring the richness of line in brush painting of China and Japan will lead me to richer and more varied lines in my prints. For now I'm happy to keep experimenting with both brush pen and sumi brush.

Completed Print and Brush Pen Sketches

I think it's been a week since I finished the combined linocut/woodcut of Winter Wren in leaves. But it's been a busy time and I haven't gotten around to showing it here yet. One of the reasons for the delay is that I've been out walking and birding and taking some photos.

As the weather gets colder it's harder to convince myself to sketch from life outside. I inevitably start going through my photos and field sketches looking for a subject for a new painting or print. That was the case recently with most of these brush pen (either Kuretake or Pentel) sketches. All but the Cooper's Hawk are from photos taken earlier this year. The earliest, above is a Great Egret with Forster's Tern at Jake's Landing near Cape May, NJ. I liked the scene but made a mistake in bringing the dark reflections on the water down so low that the tern more or less disappeared.

More recently I've seen a number of Eastern Chipmunks. Though I'd like to sketch them live, and occasionally they do sit still, I'm so unfamiliar with them that working from photos seemed like good practice. And of course the unadulterated cuteness of chipmunk and acorn was hard to ignore.

The Eastern Towhee above was I think from early spring. As usual I like it when I can see the full bird, head to toe. That makes it easier and to me more worthwhile sketching. With the full bird in sight it's much easier to get a sense of movement, weight, balance.  As usual it is hard to exaggerate the size of the tail.

The only recent photo was the basis of the sketch above. It is a Cooper's Hawk. You may agree with me that the one on the far right, where I ignored the feathers to a large extent, is much more successful. One of the things that I most like about using a brush pen is that I'm forced to be both simple, quick and decisive. It doesn't lend itself to tentative strokes.  And so I think there is an immediacy and sense of spontaneity that is appealing. On the other hand if you make a mistake you have to live with it, as in one of the chipmunk sketches above where the arm is much too small and out of scale.

I continue to do these sketches because I learn from them. And I'd like to incorporate their simplicity in my prints. Time will tell.

And finally the completed print of a Winter Wren in leaves. It is a combination print of linocut and woodcut. I printed it a few years ago as a black linocut. But I always felt that it wasn't as colorful as it might be. Since I wanted to experiment with a new water-soluble ink I returned to it as the basis for a color print. I printed the original linocut in black using the new ink, Caligo Safe-wash. I then used my old Daniel Smith ink to print orange on a woodblock and overprint the black. I then went back to the linocut and printed a Daniel Smith brown after having cut away more of the block to that some of the color created by orange over black remained. My intent was to cut a little more of the linocut away and then print Caligo black on top of the entire print. But as I proofed I kept feeling that the black was too dominant. I also found that the Caligo was too glossy and out of keeping with the more matte Daniel Smith. So in the end I carved away most of the linoleum block and then printed what remained with the very little Daniel Smith black that I still have.

I am happy with this and it's fulfilled my goal to a large extent of making the original Winter Wren print much more colorful.

150 Birds, 2 Brush Pens, 1 Print

Pectoral Sandpiper at Morris Arboretum Wetlands. Brush Pen and Watercolor by Ken Januski.

There is one premier birding location in the Philadelphia area, John Heinz NWR, also know as Tinicum. But for us it's not the most enjoyable drive and almost always involves some rush hour traffic on busy highways. Perhaps the early morning traffic will be light but that won't be the case on the way home.

For that and other reasons we spend most of our time birding closer to home when we're in Philadelphia. We're very fortunate to have so many good birding areas, and just plain good natural areas, within a few miles of our house: the Wissahickon Valley, the Manayunk Canal and Schuylkill River, Andorra Natural Area, Houston Meadows, Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, and Morris Arboretum to name the ones where we spend the most time.

We originally joined Morris many years ago for the vegetation. We're interested in flowers and herbs, but also in shrubs and trees, particularly native ones. But the more time we spent at Morris the more we realized that there were a lot of birds there, particularly near the natural wetlands near the entrance.

As our birding skills have improved, and as I've spent more time sketching the birds I see, our list of birds seen at Morris has grown. Recently we saw a Pectoral Sandpiper there, the 150th bird seen at Morris according to e-bird, and our 130th bird. The Facebook page for Morris recently howed a photo I took of the Pectoral along with my American Goldfinch Eating Thistle, based on a sketch from Morris. Above is a quick sketch using two different brush pens and watercolor of the Pectoral.

About a year ago Kenn Kaufmann wrote an article in Bird Watcher's Digest about all the birds that go unnoticed and unreported because birders tend to stick to known hotspots. I think that the 150th species seen at Morris shows how true this is. Birds are in many places, not just hotspots like Heinz NWR. It's really worthwhile to explore other areas, especially ones so close to home.

Morris has done a lot to develop/protect the natural wetlands area and I think it shows in all the birds that are now possibilities there. And it is a very beautiful place in every other aspect as well.

Winter Wren in Leaves. Third Stage of Combination Woodcut/Linocut by Ken Januski.

I haven't given up on the reworked Winter Wren print. But I have needed to let the ink dry between colors. This is a photo of one of the prints on good paper. It first was printed in black, from the original linoleum block. I then printed orange from a new woodblock. I then printed brown from the original linoleum block, but with some areas carved away so that the brown created by the orange on top of the black showed through. Now it is time to print just black I think, again after carving away more of the linoleum block. The ink is probably dry enough now on the prints. But I need to figure out what to carve away and how muck black to use, assuming that I don't decide against the black. Prints are always full of decisions, including abandoning a central part of the original plan.

Field Sketching Resumes, 'The Natural Eye' Begins

Male Wood Duck with Turtles on Log. Sumi Brush Pen Field Sketch by Ken Januski.

I wish I had been there but I was not and once again I missed the opening of 'The Natural Eye', the annual exhibit of the Society of Wildlife Artists in London. Examples of some of the work can be seen online at What's On at The Mall Galleries. If you go to page four you'll see my two works. I thought this year was finally going to be the year that I and Jerene were able to visit the exhibit and meet other artists but it just wasn't possible. As I've said previously it is the only wildlife art exhibit that I find exciting. The link above gives you a very good representation of the work on exhibit and a very good representation of the type of bird and wildlife art that I like.

Finally yesterday I was able to do some field sketching along the Manayunk Canal. I was hoping that a heavy storm the day before might have brought some unusual birds. But if they were there I didn't find them. I had however recently bought a sample pack of brush pens from jetpens.com because I've been so happy with the Kuretake Sumi Brush Pen that I bought there. I also wanted to try some of them out. A few are far too fine and stiff for my purposes. But others have a fluidity and flexibility that I like. An example of one of the pens is above. If I recall correctly it is a Pilot Brush pen. When I got home I added color with Caran d'Ache NeoColor II water-soluble crayons. I then used a waterbrush to make washes from the crayons. I know this sounds like an advertisement for these media, and you can certainly find plenty examples of such online. But that's not the case. I'd call it more objective reporting: these are the tools I used. In almost all cases here they are not the best tools but the best convenient tools. I could have used a sumi or watercolor brush along with watercolor. But that's less convenient, especially when out in the field, and unsure of whether or not I'll sketch. These tools allow me that possibility while carrying very little gear.

Great Blue Heron, European Starling, Northern Cardinal. Sumi Brush Pen Field Sketch by Ken Januski.

Above is another example of brush pen field sketches. On the right is a Great Blue Heron up in the trees also done yesterday along the Manayunk Canal. It's done with the Pilot Brush Pen. I also used that pen for the European Starling seen from my studio window. Above it a drawing mainly from memory of a Northern Cardinal that appeared momentarily in front of the same window. The Zebra brush pen was far too fine and stiff for my tastes, but others may love it. I guess it depends on how you plan to use it.

In any case it's nice to be doing field sketches again and I'm happy to be experimenting with these various brush pens.

Winter Wren in Leaves. Proof of Combination Woodcut/Linocut by Ken Januski.

Finally I'm continuing the combination woodcut/linocut of the Winter Wrens in Leaves. I've printed the black(Caligo Safewash Ink) on good paper(Shin  Torinoko Cream). The black is from the old linoleum block. I then printed an orange on a woodblock on top of that. This is a proof. I didn't rub the baren as hard as usual because I was afraid the black ink might not be completely dry. As a result you can see that the orange is spotty. It may also be a bit darker than I want. But I do like the brown that results from printing orange(Daniel Smith Water-soluble Ink) over the black. Once I've printed the orange for the edition I'll cut away some of the black and print what remains on top of the orange over black. Easy as Pie as they say.