Is Visual Art Music or Literature?

The Peregrines of Manayunk. Mokuhaga by Ken Januski. Copyright 2025.

I have finished the mokuhanga of the peregrine falcons of Manayunk and St. John's Church and wrote about much of their story in my last post.

But you might wonder how I ended up with this picture. I talked very briefly about it last time when I showed the pencil sketch that served as its basis.

Preliminary sketch for the new mokuhanga. Copyright 2025 by Ken Januski.

After doing quite a few field sketches through my scope on two or three visits to St. John's Church I also made some watercolor sketches from photos I'd taken. After deciding to try to come up with an idea for a print I just got out a large sketchbook and came up with the drawing above.

What in the world is it? Well that's where the title of this post comes in. Many people prefer their visual art to be pretty literary, clearly illustrating an object or idea. The purpose of the art is very literal and any deviation from the literal is bad, at least in their minds. Others, especially in western European/American art from the 20th century on thinks of visual art as closer to music. It is abstract but wide-ranging it its emotional impact, like music. It is not limited by facts, visual or otherwise.

Of course visual art  shouldn't be literature or music. It should be visual art, whatever that is. In any case as I sat down to make this sketch I just let a summary of my experiences viewing and sketching the peregrines over a week flow onto the paper. I hadn't really thought about this until recently. But I think this is a good explanation. It is just a visual recording of my experiences.

That means showing all the peregrines(actually 6 in all, 2 adults and 4 fledglings) but also their environment, the church and its steeples and roofs, the surrounding utility structures on which they often perched, and all my sketches of them perched in various locations. Even the food handoff from parent to child of a recently caught European starling.

Having spent most of my life as an abstract artist I feel perfectly free to make real objects abstract or to add the abstract and the more realistic. There is over 100 years of history now of this type of art. Still it probably bothers some. But I can't worry about them. As many people know art is first of all for the artist who makes it, perhaps not in terms of making a living from it, but certainly in terms of artistic satisfaction. So I'm quite satisfied with this. It mixes realistic and abstract as well as flatter more abstract space and deeper more atmospheric traditional space. I like that.

In the long run though it is also quite realistic in the sense that it recreates my experience over the week of watching the peregrines.

This is probably the most complex mokuhanga I've ever done. I'm sure many would say: 'Please, please, please start simple and then get complex. First learn the rudiments of mokuhanga and then get fancy.' It makes perfect sense to me but I just can't do it that way. I need to be motivated to make an image and then hope that I can master the technical aspects as I go.

But I would reiterate what I've said before: mokuhanga is a wonderful medium for making art. It has left me frustrated at some point in almost every print that I have ever made. But the rewards have far outweighed the problems. It is very hard to explain how much freedom you have with mokuhanga. A printing press with a million options right on the small table in front of the you. The main ingredient of the press being a handheld baren that can vary in price from around $50 to over $1000. But it weighs only a few ounces and can be repaired by you yourself. The chisels can last a lifetime. The paints are watered based and non-toxic. And you work on beautiful, often hand-made paper. Did I mention a rich history? I don't want to go on. I'm sure I break as many rules of mokuhanga and that tradition as I do of European/American art especially pre-20th century. But I find it an incredibly rich and enjoyable medium.

I have printed 12 of these so far, all on Nishinouchi paper. I plan to print at least 24 more and then will have to cull out the ones with minor blemishes. When that is all finished I will put them up for sale on Etsy.

 

Preliminary Peregrines - A Six Week Story

Three proofs of new mokuhanga, 'Peregrines at St. Johns Church.' Copyright 2025, Ken Januski

It was about ten years ago or so that I learned that peregrine falcons were nesting quite near to our house, just down the hill towards Manayunk and the Schuylkill River. Oddly we found this out after nearly running over some birders who were taking up the road for themselves, quite oblivious to cars,  at Heislerville WMA near Cape May in New Jersey. We ran into them, figuratively, later and mentioned that we lived in Manayunk. They told us about the nesting peregrines.

    The first time we actually saw them was a year or two later when I was about to walk back up hill to our house, carrying my art work with me, after having exhibited for the first and only time in the Manayunk Arts Festival on Main Street. I'd only gotten a block away when I heard this shrill screeching. Peregrines! Later I learned that they were fledglings awaiting food from their parents.

    They nested at St. John's Church for 10 or more years, with occasional replacement of one of the parents. Unfortunately I didn't visit them during breeding season any where near as much as I should have. At one point the male I believe was found dead possibly the result of a drone strike. I think that there may not have been a nest for a year or two. And then this year a new one with new parents was discovered by the person who has most closely monitored them over the years, Judy S.!

So I went down the hill a couple of times and tried to find them and sketch them through my scope. I also took numerous photos and videos but they were always a bit too distant. Below are many if not all of the field sketches I made during those visits, starting with the first.  As I've said many times there is a thrill to field sketches and the actual process of sketching in the field that is absent from photography, at least for me.

After I'd done these and after a small celebration of local birders for another successful nesting season, with four juveniles(!), I decided to do some sketches for a possible new mokuhanga. Photos of the first compositional sketch as well as one of two preliminary digital sketches are also below.

At the top are the three newest proofs of all eight blocks. There are a few minor changes to make but very soon I will print a new edition. I should add that I haven't suddenly turned 'religious.' The crosses are part of the church. The other structures or fragments of structures are also from the surrounding area, and frequent perches for the six swiftly flying peregrines. I tried to capture all of that!

Sumi brush pen field sketch of local Peregrines. Copyright 2025, Ken Januski.

Sumi brush pen field sketch of local Peregrines. Copyright 2025, Ken Januski.

Sumi brush pen field sketch of local Peregrines. Copyright 2025, Ken Januski.

Sumi brush pen field sketch of local Peregrines. Copyright 2025, Ken Januski.

Watercolor sketch of local Peregrines from my photos. Copyright 2025, Ken Januski.

 

Large pencil sketch that tries to capture the experience of seeing so many Peregrines over three long visits. Copyright 2025, Ken Januski.

Sumi brush pen field sketch of local Peregrines. Copyright 2025, Ken Januski.

Sumi brush pen field sketch of local Peregrines. Copyright 2025, Ken Januski.

Sumi brush pen field sketch of local Peregrines. Copyright 2025, Ken Januski.

Sumi brush pen field sketch of local Peregrines. Copyright 2025, Ken Januski.

Digital template, using Procreate, of local Peregrines. This is the second one and a bit different than the first. The new print is based on this. Copyright 2025, Ken Januski.

GBBC 2015 Day One - Peregrine

Peregrine Falcon on St. John's Church Steeple. Watercolor Sketch by Ken Januski.

Today began the Great Backyard Bird Count. I think today and the upcoming weekend may be the coldest in recent memory for it, though certainly not the snowiest. I was a bit reluctant to head out with a windchill of 0 or so. This was especially so as I'd seen no birds in flight from my studio window earlier in the morning. Generally at least the European Starlings and Mourning Doves are active by 7:45 a.m.

I'd also had reports that one or two of the nesting pair of Peregrine Falcons had returned to St. John's Church down the hill in Manayunk. On a warmer day I would have swung by the church. But today I decided to stick to the Canal as it paralleled the Schuylkill River, hoping to see water birds. They at least should be out.

I did see a number of Mallards and a couple of female Common Mergansers. I didn't see much else though nearer to Main St. I did see an American Robin and a European Starling squabbling over berries. As I looked up I also saw the church a few blocks away. Might as well scan it I thought. I did see a bird but assumed it was more likely a Rock Pigeon than a Peregrine. From that distance I couldn't tell for sure. But I took one photo just in case.

When I got home I found a handsome Peregrine on the steeple. Above is a pencil sketch with watercolor based on the photo.

I've never been an illustrator. So I've never had to work on deadline with representational art. However I do like the challenge of illustrating these GBBC forays. I always have limited time and I like to try to illustrate each day's sightings, sometimes with more realism than other times. If I work from photos, as I did today, then it looks even more like an illustration. This was done in one hour in a Stillman and Birn sketchbook. My guess is that it will be by far the most realistic sketch I do during the GBBC.

Peregrines, Pretzels, Halloweens and Herons

Young Peregrine Falcon Balancing on Power Tower near Pretzel Park. Ballpoint Sketch by Ken Januski.

For quite a few years Peregrine Falcons have been nesting just a half mile from us in the steeple of St. John the Baptist Church right across from Pretzel Park. We only learned about them two years ago I think and have been extremely remiss in not following them more closely. If you must blame it on the half mile steep uphill climb that must accompany every downhill visit.

The climb can always lessen our motivation. But a close follower of them called us to say that she'd be there last night and so we walked down for a look. As usual I'd prefer to sketch them from life. But I couldn't convince myself to carry down a heavy tripod and scope not knowing if we'd find any peregrines. As is was two of the youngsters arrived though the other two and the parents had not yet arrived by the time we left. I took two quick photos and the ballpoint pen sketch above is based on them. In seeing them one thing that strikes you are the very large feet. When looking at the photo the very long primaries stand out. I intended to accentuate them here but I think I need to do a few more studies and sketches to get them right.

One of them was the youngest bird and as he hopped and flopped high in the towers with busy traffic below your heart dropped every time he seemed to miss his footing. But he did fine. Soon we'll be able to see peregrine acrobatics as the birds occasionally fly over our back yard shrilling calling in advance to alert us.

I still can't believe that we have such birds so close to us, and that we don't pay much more attention to them. I hope to get down next week to sketch them from life.

Three Young Green Herons at Manayunk Canal. Third State of Woodcut Proof by Ken Januski.

Above is the third state of the proof of the young Green Herons woodcut. I've decided to do one edition in just one color, black. After I finish it I may go back and do an edition with multiple colors. But for now I want to keep the stark and simple contrast that the print has. I expect to make just a few more changes before I print this edition. I do like it. And I especially like the fact that it incorporates a scene that we actually saw, three very young Green Herons.

Halloween Pennant Dragonfly at Houston Meadows. Photo by Ken Januski.

Many people consider Peregrines to be the perfect aerial predator. But others would say the same of dragonflies. I think it's probably true. Dragonflies are constantly active not because they're bored but because they're looking for live prey. And they will eat other dragonflies.

But when you see dragonflies such as the Halloween Pennant above or the Unicorn Clubtail below you don't think of predators, of 'nature bloody in tooth and claw.' Instead you just can't believe the beauty in front of you. I think that's particularly true of Halloween Pennants. What amazing structure, color and markings. (A couple of months later and it's still true that Halloween Pennants are amazing. But as I recently looked through my photos and my dragonfly guides I realized that this is really a Painted Skimmer!!).

Unicorn Clubtail Dragonfly at Morris Arboretum. Photo by Ken Januski.

Though we do get good views of butterflies, dragonflies and other insects with our birding binoculars we finally broke down and bought some Pentax Papilio close focus binoculars which are made especially for viewing things that are very close. They are fairly inexpensive (around $100) and seem to work extremely well for butterflies and dragonflies. Recently I've had to rely on my photos to ID some butterflies and dragonflies. I'll still take photos. But with these binoculars it's possible to see detail in the field, both for identification purposes and for doing field sketches. One of these days my first field sketches will appear here.

Sweating Through Exhibition Prep

We're at the start of an Excessive Heat Warning here. It goes through the next 40+ hours and won't be exactly cool when it ends. This seems appropriate since the Manayunk Arts Festival starts this weekend. I don't plan things this way but as I think back about the various shows I've been in I often picture myself sweating like crazy, working in incredibly hot weather, trying to ready a show.
Fortunately I'm a bit more prepared for this show and had some advance warning about the heat. So I have most of my work ready to go. Above you see some of the framed work, including two gull watercolors from 2012. That Great Black-backed Gull at Flatrock Dam looks refreshingly cool doesn't he. If I were a marketer I might hope that it might be a subliminal message to viewers this weekend to buy it and instantly feel cooler.

Above you see a stack of seven framed watercolors and linocuts. On top of them are about 15 linocuts, that are in mats but not framed. They'll all go the the Manayunk Roxborough Art Center. Eventually some/most/all of them will be transported along with other work from members, especially five exhibiting artists, of the MRAC coop to the arts festival. There they will be part of the Emerging Artists Showcase at Main and Roxborough.
The festival itself of course wants to showcase the Manayunk area, though artists and crafters from across the US will exhibit. The Emerging Artists Showcase features local artists. Since I live less than a mile from where I'll be exhibiting I guess I qualify as local. You can't get too much more local than that. But it also will showcase the Mayanunk Roxborough Art Center mentioned above. Like many places, especially non-profits, the economic downturn has hurt in may ways: fewer grants, fewer purchases of art, part of whose profits go to the center, etc. MRAC was once a thriving part of Manayunk and Roxborough. The exposure gained at the arts festival will hopefully help to return it to that thriving state Along with art shows it offers many classes as well as literary programs. See the site for more info, or stop by the festival this weekend.