Ending 2016 with Two Woodcuts(Or Keep Calm During Chaos)

Wood Ducks in Snow on Wissahickon Creek. Reduction Woodcut by Ken Januski.

It's always a bit of a struggle to keep politics, or other things that occasionally seem important, out of what is supposed to be a blog about art, birds and nature. I try to but Trump blasts away all my resolve due to his constant attack on decency, logic, reason, fairness and just about any other quality that used to be considered part of 'civilized' behavior. So I'll just say that I expect chaos both here and in the rest of the world, largely due to Trump. It may not be immediately evident, especially if you ignore his tweets(as everyone should), but it will eventually become so. That being the case I think the Wood Ducks portrayed above, seen in a blustery winter storm a number of springs ago, may serve as a good example. They look calm and serene amidst the chaos. Hopefully the world can do the same under whatever conditions he brings about.

I'd originally intended this small 4x6 woodcut as a season's greeting card that I tried to whip out in time for the holidays just as I was also finishing the woodcut below. But I soon let it got more complicated than I should have, especially at such a small scale. Still in the end I'm happy with how it worked out. It does have the misty, blustery feel of the actual day that I saw the Wood Ducks. It is printed on a good quality Japanese paper, Nishinouchi. The ink went on a bit more sparsely than I expected but in the end it didn't seem to be a problem. I was also impressed that I could keep adding new colors and the paper accepted them without problem.

I loved this scene when I first saw it a few years ago. This print, like many I've done, is based on a watercolor I did of the original scene. Little did I know as I did it that it might need to serve as a motto for the next 4, and God Forbid, 8 years: Remain Calm During Chaos!

Killdeer and Great Blue Heron in Snow at Manayunk Canal. Two-block Reduction Woodcut by Ken Januski.

I finished the Killdeer and Great Blue Heron woodcut a few weeks ago, just adding a few minor tweaks to the last version that I posted here. As usual with prints, especially reduction prints, I often find at the end that there is something I wish I'd done differently earlier on. With a painting I can just paint over it. But not in a print. So printmaking I think really forces you to live with simplification. You can only tweak so much. The final tweaking probably took two weeks and affected only about 10% of the entire area of the print. But I do think it made the print a bit livelier, both in terms of color and tone.

As anyone who has followed my work and this blog for very long knows I'm always trying to reconcile naturalism/realism and abstraction. To me this print goes quite a way in that direction, though here I think I'm a bit more realistic than in some of my other attempts. Others may view it differently.

I've been listening to a lot of music by Beethoven recently as well as reading two biographies and taking a number of audio courses. At one point Beethoven talks about writing for the future not the past. With wildlife art it's easy to get tricked into sticking with the past. But in the end I think it's a mistake. Art needs to remain lively and not just be an imitation of the past. That is my goal in my hybrid realistic/abstract work. For me it works and is endlessly fulfilling I hope that also proves true to people who view it.

Reduction Woodcut, Recalcitrant Snipe, Leftovers, Trump's Greatest Sin

Killdeer and Great Blue Heron. Partially completed reduction woodcut by Ken Januski.

I guess one of the benefits of writing posts so infrequently these days is that I can ramble all over the place in terms of subjects covered. Thus the title.

My most recent artwork is the reduction woodcut above, based on one of numerous sightings of Killdeer and Great Blue Heron in the Manayunk Canal over the last few winters. I'm moving along more speedily than normal on this one, spending less time in endless deliberation about what to do next. I think one or at most two colors are still left and I plan that they will just be in a few small areas.



Wilson's Snipe and Greater Yellowlegs at Ottawa NWR. Watercolor by Ken Januski.

I say 'recalcitrant' snipe in the title because I keep going back to these snipe seen at Ottawa NWR a number of years ago in the hopes of getting a painting, print, drawing I'm happy with. Above is the newest effort, I think 11x17 or something like that. It's the biggest watercolor I've done in a while.

Wilson's Snipe and Greater Yellowlegs at Ottawa NWR. Acrylic Painting by Ken Januski.

Next is an acrylic painting, actually smaller than the watercolor, that I painted then repainted a number of years ago. It seems like such a great subject and yet I'm not completely happy with any of my attempts. I've also done numerous pen and ink and watercolor studies along the way. So we shall see. Sometimes it almost seems like you need to exorcise a subject. I do think eventually that I'll get a good print out of this subject.

Chipping Sparrow in Pines. Brush Painting by Ken Januski.

When I print I always tear large sheets of printmaking paper to size. And always there are small leftover strips of good paper. I've never known what to do with them so they just accumulate. Recently I ordered a new Chinese brush, ink stick and grinding stone from Oriental Art Supply. I realized that this leftover paper might be just the ticket for experimenting with the new brush and ink. So after about 5-6 horrible failures I ended up with this passable brush painting of a Chipping Sparrow in a pine tree. One reason I wanted a better quality ink stick was so that I could get richer blacks. As you can see there are at least one or two here.

'Tula' salvia in backyard. Photo by Ken Januski.

I haven't written anything on Trump and the election so far. I'm not completely shocked by the results. The white working class has been effectively abandoned by Democrats for years. There's also a sense of moral superiority in many Democrats that I think fuels a resentment of them, a resentment Trump was all too happy to take advantage of. But what of Trump? To a certain extent I agree with both Obama and Clinton in the idea of at least giving him a chance.

But for all of his faults, and everyone except the blind know that they are legion, there is one that I think will do more harm than anything else: his lack of civility, respect for others, and respect for truth, all willingly jettisoned by him. As he said to the Wall Street Journal when questioned about whether he'd gone too far in some of his statements he said: "No, I won!"

Most Americans know that the presidency is more than just a matter of winning. It's not a football game, or a backstreet brawl, though I suppose it has been in the distant past. But in an age where there is already far too much ranting, too much eager willingness to  not even consider the other side, Trump sets the worst possible precedent. Anything and everything is legitimate as long as you win. History will decide I fear that this is his very worst legacy.

I should add, as others have, that he might actually be successful. History never unfolds as predicted. But I'll still never forgive him for his utter degradation of the process.

And, to end on a happier note, the last photo  is of 'Tula' Mexican Sage, almost always the last flower blooming in our garden, even in December. We buy this plant at about 12 inches tall every few years, then watch it grow and grow until November without flowering. And then finally in a race against a hard frost it starts to bloom. Each day we wonder: will it be the last? Not so far.

Back in the SWLA Again

Ruby-throated Hummingbird and Turkey Vulture. Two-block Reduction Woodcut by Ken Januski.

I'm quite happy to be able to once again entitle a post with the words 'back in the SWLA.' For those of you who don't know it refers to the annual exhibition of The Society of Wildlife Artists at The Mall Galleries in London, Great Britain.

Anyone who follows this blog knows that I have a real love/hate relationship with wildlife art. The love part of it can be seen very reliably in the work of the SWLA and in their annual exhibit.

I've never seen it in person and once again this year, mainly due to lack of proper planning on my part, will miss it. And each time I see an online gallery of some of the work I realize what a great opportunity I'm missing.

But for anyone else you can, if you're not near London, take a look at The Natural Eye - 2016. Each year it again gives me hope for wildlife art! My print is for sale on page 5 of the online gallery.

It's Not an Illusion

Willow Flycatcher in Swamp Dogwood. Two block Reduction Woodcut by Ken Januski.

As I look through my older prints, as well as my other work and the work of others that I admire, I often think about whether or not I want to create an illusion of reality, or maybe even just the illusion of a photograph, since many people think that reality and photography are the same. I've done work that is more illusionistic, though it rarely looks like a photo. And I can often admire such work, both by contemporary artists and older ones.

But I've pretty much decided that this is not the route I want to take. If I were more of a plein aire painter I would perhaps think differently. In that case the illusion I might try to create might be more in reaction to what is right in front of me and actually all around me, not just to the flat surface of a photo. But though I do field sketches I don't work plein aire. When I do my work from photos my skin starts getting prickly, as though I'm allergic to it.

So for me I've come to think that I'm best off working somewhat in the manner of this newest, two-block reduction woodcut. It is representational but it is not illusionistic. Just the color block by itself, before being overprinted by the black block and all its lines, looked somewhat illusionistic, more like a painting, and was appealing to me. I felt that to a certain extent I'd captured the diffuse light. But it wasn't the way I wanted to go. So I added the last black block, just as I'd intended to all along. I think this has created a more graphic, almost iconic image. That's neither good nor bad. But it seems to be the way that I want to go and the way that seems most fruitful to me. I suppose it is that impulse that also convinced me to change my cover photo recently to the woodblock print of a Gray Catbird guarding his walnuts. And just yesterday I saw another Gray Catbird in the middle of the road, seemingly as imperious as could be, daring a car to come near him. That reminded me of one of the reasons that I like my Gray Catbird woodblocks. I believe that they capture, from at least one perspective, the experience of seeing a Gray Catbird.

Illusion can be great but sometimes you just feel like something different.

This woodcut by the way probably took longer than any print I've ever done, even the 9-10 color reduction linocut of the Blackburnian Warbler at Magee Marsh. It wasn't really that complicated. But I felt like I needed to keep proofing different colors until I got the ones I wanted. And then I spent a week or two figuring out how to get a final black that printed full and rich and not splotchy. It's at moments like that that I wonder why in the world I ever got involved with such a technical medium!

Slow Progess, Hopefully Good, on a Woodcut

I have deliberately slowed down the number of posts I make on this blog. This began last year I think but has really become evident in 2016. It's been almost a month since I last posted. The main reason for that is that though I like to write, I'm not sure that many readers of this blog like to read. In general it seems to be a world of pictures rather than words. It sometimes seems as though words, like politicians, are considered inherently untrustworthy. So we have a major presidential candidate who thinks that mindless tweets constitute considered positions. And people like it!

I probably wouldn't have gotten distracted by this theme of words versus pictures if I hadn't wanted to use the word 'progress' in the title. That reminded me of one of my many pet peeves regarding current language use. You can just about bet that if you hear anyone use the word 'progress' as a noun today that it will be preceded by 'good.' I shudder every time I hear this. Just what other type of progress is there? Bad?! If it's bad then why not call it what it really is, regression rather than progression? It reminds me, going forward I might add, that language today seems to be used in the pastiche method of bad architecture, where you really don't understand the meaning or context of the words or architectural styles you use but you like them anyway because they have some vague feeling that is pleasurable. I was shocked recently to be watching some soccer matches on television and hear the phrase 'going forward' used in an intelligent way. The ball in fact is 'going forward' down the field of play. For most people it seems to be used as a socially acceptable bauble to encrust just about every sentence. But perhaps I should say babble rather than bauble, or perhaps both. It reminds me of some home architecture, where Greek columms are added to just about any type of home. How about some Greek columns on that yurt? It will give your home a sense of class!

I suppose it is no surprise that such totally fuzzy thought and language use should bring about a candidate like Donald Trump. He fits the time perfectly. But I should add that I don't consider this a particularly partisan issue. Democrats are just as bad in their use of spin, fuzzy language and fuzzy thought. I recently saw a Democratic U.S. senate candidate produce nothing other than verbal spin. Oddly I had just seen her conservative Republican opponent, with whom I almost always disagree, ask thoughtful questions in s Senate hearing. So who should a responsible person vote for? The spinmeister or the person who at least seems to have a working brain, even if it so often comes to conclusions with which I disagree?

In any case I decided more than a year ago that I would keep this blog more visually oriented and also visually oriented through art that I'd done not through photos that I'd taken. Above is the newest proof of my two-block woodcut of a Willow Flycatcher. It combines a reduction color woodcut with the other side of the block printed only in black on top of the color print. It's an odd way of working but one that at least so far has proven fruitful for me. Because both sides of the block can change as I go along I never really have a clear idea as to what the final print will look like. I will only know when I'm done. Because it takes time to make all the decisions for matching up two blocks and because it takes time for each layer of ink to dry before I can print over it this has been a very lengthy print. But it is nearly done. So far all of these proofs are on copier paper though I've printed all but the last color on good paper. Now I just need to print the last color on the good paper, decide on the final carving of the black block and then print it on good paper. Below are the color block so far as well as the black block so far.

The New, The Old, The Newly Rejuvenated

Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Turkey Vulture and Trumpet Honeysuckle. Completed Two-Block Reduction Woodcut by Ken Januski.

I'm happy to say, and happy for you to see, that I can once again import pictures into this blog. I'm not sure where the problem was but I'm happy to say that it's fixed. And I'm sure anyone who dislikes my digressions into politics, while I waited to be able to post pictures again, is too.

I finally finished the two-block reduction woodcut of the Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Turkey Vulture and Trumpet Honeysuckle above. A combination of needing to allow ink to dry on earlier prints before adding new colors as well as the difficulty of making the final decisions on where to cut and where to add the black made it a lengthy print. All I can say by way of explanation is to paraphrase Matisse who said that every single part of a picture is important. You change one and the balance of all the others changes as well.  So when you finish a painting you're saying this is the best I can do. No more changes.

I  have to say that, at least at the moment, this is my favorite woodcut or linocut of all that I have done. Each day I look at it in the studio I'm pleased and it seems like it was worth all the work and all of the delay.

Winter Wren in Leaves. Proof of Black over Orange Over Black. Combination Woodblock and Linocut by Ken Januski.

But there is a problem that has been lurking on the horizon with my printmaking. That is the end of manufacturing of the water soluble ink I've been using for a couple of years, Daniel Smith. I'm not sure that other media have such basic problems, like even being able to buy the tools you need. Perhaps they do and I've just never run into them. I know I certainly haven't while painting in oil, acrylic or watercolor.

I began using oil-based inks. I liked the results but didn't like the need for petroleum based solvents, both for health and environmental reasons. So I experimented with water-soluble inks. But the two I tried, Caligo and Akua, just didn't seem to work the way I wanted, at least in m brief experiments. The only other water-soluble ink I know of is Graphic Chemical and I have heard no reviews of it.

So after I finished the print at top I asked on the Facebook page of Friends of Baren if they had any ideas. All three inks had their following. So I thought about trying the old Caligo ink I bought a few years ago.

My old linocut of a winter wren in leaves seemed a perfect candidate. I was happy with the edition when I printed it but I felt the wren disappeared a bit too easily. I also thought that an orange and/or brown could be added and really bring it to life.

So I decided to experiment. I proofed the  original lino using Caligo black ink, as seen below. Then I copied that onto a woodblock of the same size, cut the white areas away, and printed orange on top of the black. The results can be seen at the bottom. I did this just out of curiosity and was pleasantly surprised at the brown that resulted from the orange overprinting the black.

So in the proof at top I've printed black on top once again. I like the results. I've lost that brown but my plans are to eventually cut some of the black lino away so that some of the brown shows through.

If it works as planned this will be a shockingly simple print, the complete opposite of the last one. Of course that is refreshing. And I like them both. There is a place for the simple, the complex and the ambitious. I tend to favor the latter but it's always refreshing to try the former.

Winter Wren in Leaves. Linocut Proof by Ken Januski.

Winter Wren in Leaves. Linocut and Woodcut Proof of Orange over Black by Ken Januski.

Ending the Proofing, Previewing 'The Natural Eye'

Ruby-throated Hummingbird and Turkey Vulture. Late Stage Proof of Two-block Reduction Woodcut by Ken Januski.

I'm down to two proofs now. That is the number of test proofs I have left in order to continue to proof as I finish off this two-block reduction woodcut of the Ruby-throated Hummingbird and Turkey Vulture along the Manayunk Canal, seen about a month ago.

For anyone unfamiliar with reduction prints the photo below might be illuminating. As I print each color I either carve it away so that it can't be printed or proofed again, or I cover it with another color. In any case once a color is done it is completely done. So above I printed the yellow first. But at this point there is no way to print it again. If you look below, at the left side since it prints in reverse, you can see that there is almost no wood left. It's all been carved away. You can see the few raised aras where I printed the newest rose color.

When I start such a print I begin by printing numerous proofs. So for instance I started off with between 16 and 24 proofs of the yellow. As I experimented with other colors I proofed them, When I printed a configuration I was happy with I proofed the remaining proofs in the new configuration. But each failed experiment, or experiment I decided against, is a proof that can't be continued since it no longer looks like the print. The number of proofs gets smaller and smaller as I go on. Now I'm down to just two!! That means that if I decide to keep the rose color above and print as is I'll still only have two proofs left to test the final black color and any other last minute changes I'd like to add. Those will be minimal at best because as you see below there's almost no wood left to print on the color block below.

Color Woodblock of Two-block Woodcut Blocks. Photo by Ken Januski.

Nonetheless I'm happy with this. It will change a bit from the proof at top in that I'll print black on top of the new rose color rather than the opposite as I did at top. I only did that because I'm so low on proofs and I knew that the rose area was so small that I could proof this way and still get a good idea of the final results.

In many ways the rose is the most important area of print. All along, ages ago when I started this I hoped that the rose of vulture's head and honeysuckle would unite the print. And yet I couldn't print them until near the end since they were such small areas. So all along I haven't been able to test what they might look like. I just had to hope they'd look okay when I finally got to this stage. And I think that they do.

Something else looks okay, maybe even better than okay. That is the online gallery of much of the work, including my own of the 52nd annual exhibit of the Society of Wildlife Artists, The Natural Eye -2015. If you scroll down to middle of page to the 'Featured Artwork' section you can see 10 pages worth of fantastic art that will be in the show. My own work is on the fourth page.

I'm sure any readers that continue to read this blog realize that I often spend time flogging the dead horse of much wildlife art, especially that based on photos. As a positive answer to those who disagree I always point to this show, a fine example of vibrant, lively wildlife art!

Whippity, Whippity WIP

Savannah Sparrows. Pencil Sketch in Progress by Ken Januski.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird and Turkey Vulture. Multi-block Reduction Woodcut in Progress.
 

Hmm. Is that the sound of some rare thrush, whippity, whippity, wip? No just a colorful, or perhaps just plain silly way of referring to two Works in Progess(WIPs). The more familiar work is the reduction woodcut the bottom image above. I've finished printing the yellow and brown on good printing paper. The green and the black are at the proofing stage. The black will print last but I need to proof it every once in awhile to see what it might look like at the end. As I do so I carve more of it away, as in the two arcs in lower left. There is more green than shows here because the black overprints it inside those two arcs. Right now I have to decide whether to include any other green areas. At the end I can decide whether or not I want the black to overprint or not.

In any case I'm happy with it so far. Soon I'll print the green. Then I'll have to decide whether to add any blue sky. Most likely I'll end with a red/pink for some of the honeysuckle and the vulture head. Followed by black of course.

The top image is something completely different: a fairly detailed pencil drawing based on a photo I took. Every once in a while I'll take a photo of a bird, especially one I'm not all that familiar with, and decide it would be good to make a study of it. That's the case with these recently seen Savannah Sparrows. Most likely I'll eventually add watercolor. But when I do the entire work may turn to mud. So just in case here it is in a fairly clear state. It does lack, some views might note, the fine stripes you expect to see on a Savannah Sparrow. I'll add them eventually but first I wanted to get the structure right.

New Woodcut, New Camera

Turkey Vulture and Ruby-throated Hummingbird. Two Block Woodcut, first proof by Ken Januski.

Well after all my threats of returning to prints I've finally done so. The 6x8 inch woodcut above is in its earliest stages. I based the side of the block that will print black on my recent field sketch of a Turkey Vulture and Ruby-throated Hummingbird seen along the Manayunk Canal as well as another hummingbird seen the same day in our backyard. The other side of the block I'm printing in multiple colors, mainly as abstract shapes.

As usual I can't say where this will go. Though there are plenty of printmakers with a lot of plans as to how they will proceed I rarely have much of a plan. I trust my improvisatory skills. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don't.  This also a reduction woodcut in the sense that each side will be treated that way. From the beginning I liked the idea of blue and white stripes. Who knows why or where it will lead.

I think it's very difficult to do wildlife art and not want to make it realistic. Part of this is due I think to a very simple reason: artists find the wildlife attractive, in some way or another, and want to portray it. I understand this. But there are two problems here I think, at least from my viewpoint. First it is so easy to mistakenly think that photographs of wildlife are real. But they're not. Photos capture frozen instants, instants that we as humans never experience. We always see things in a living continuum not a frozen instant. So I much prefer 19th century realistic wildlife painters to most current ones. They seem less beholden and/or enthralled to photography. The other problem I think is one of knowledge. If you know a lot about your subject there's often a reluctance to not show that, to fear that someone else will look at it and complain about a missing tail feather in an eagle. I think it should be obvious to anyone why this type of thing limits the art that's possible.

A number of years ago the Wall Street Journal ran a front page article on this type of art and the art collectors it inspires. It also mentioned what sticklers they often are about detail. If I remember correctly one complaint revolved around a button on a Confederate uniform. If that's what collectors want and artists feel the need to please them in order to make a living I understand that. In some way it's seem a healthy antidote to 200 years of the Romantic artist, working with himself as the only arbiter of taste. Nonetheless it leads to a very impoverished art. Imagine if music had such constraints on it. If so the weekly Lawrence Welk show, still on after all these years, might be the most revolutionary music around.

In any case this is just a long winded way of saying that I always shy away from too much realism. I see and value it in others and in field sketches. I do really like to know and understand the subjects I paint. But I'm much more fearful of the deadliness that can come about from both high finish painting and highly 'realistic' art. Both take away for me at least from art that is exciting and rewarding. So as you can see the new print at top does not have any problems with straying to close to realism. But it does give an artistic and expressive excitement that I hope I can develop in this print. As usual though with improvisation it's easy to fall flat on your face.

Female Black and White Warbler at Manayunk Canal. Photo by Ken Januski.

Last weekend my very old Panasonic Lumix FZ28 dies, after 7-8 years of great service. I never, ever care about getting artistic or well-composed photos. I use the camera for reference purposes, so that I can see perhaps the color of the feet on a Blackburnian Warbler, or the length of the primary projection on a mysterious flycatcher or to document an unusual bird, for instance a Worm-eating Warbler that we saw at Morris Arboretum a few weeks ago. Those photos were pretty bad but they were good enough to prove that the bird was seen.

So I really don't care much about cameras. Nonetheless the new one I bought has a greater optical zoom than the one that died so I was anxious to try it out. I didn't see that many birds today, and the first ever backyard American Redstart from an hour ago wouldn't sit still. But I did get this passable photo of an upside down female Black and White Warbler. The other 4-5 didn't turn out but I was happy with this one. It's hard to believe that soon, well maybe not all that soon, the warblers will be gone until late March or early April. It will be like a day without sunshine.

Forgotten Warbler, Another Snake, Completed Woodcut and a Very Influential Artist

Louisiana Waterthrush and Snake. Pencil and Watercolor Sketch by Ken Januski.

As I wrote about the local breeding warblers in my last post I expected that I probably would forget to mention one or two. Sure enough I forgot the one that breeds within a mile of our house: the Louisiana Waterthrush. It's hard to believe I forgot that one. So above is a quick pencil and watercolor sketch of one, seen with an as yet unidentified snake, in a tributary of the Wissahickon at Morris Arboretum. I saw it and another one there this May. They've been somewhat sparse, at least for me, in the Wissahickon this year so I need to make a point of looking for them before they leave.

'Black' Squirrel, Palm Warbler and Mourning Cloak. Final Edition of Two Block Reduction Woodcut by Ken Januski.

More important news is that I've finally finished the 4x6 inch two block reduction woodcut of the 'Black' Squirrel, Palm Warbler and Mourning Cloak seen at the very beginning of migration season in early April 2015. This photo is a bit off in that the blue is not that bright. I sometimes use more than one dark color in my prints and when I do you can bet that they will not photograph well. In this instance my camera insisted in seeing a brighter blue than is actually on the print.

I'm happy with this print, though of course there are some things I'd prefer had worked a bit better. But with a complex print like this that sentiment is inevitable. For me the most exciting thing is that I have transmuted something actually experienced into art. That is one great differentiating factor between my work and much wildlife art, or even contemporary art in general. I'm not interested in making an imitation photo,  nor in portraying any existential angst against the state, the unfairness of life, etc., etc. There's much to enjoy in life, particularly outside in the natural world, and I'd like to capture that experience in some way. I don't care about the details of scientific illustration. I care about the thrill of being outside.

And speaking of that I was sad to learn, as were many others, that John Busby had died. I probably wouldn't have changed from an abstract artist to a bird artist if it weren't for him. Or I would have withered on the vine, in the dull and lifeless world of wildlife art as I knew it. It was only in reading and looking at his book Drawing Birds that I saw wildlife art that showed some sense of the excitement of outdoor experiences and also had some sense of art rather than illustration. If you've never read this book, and you have any interest at all in wildlife art or bird art, I'd recommend it. Though he's had an impact on me I think that his impact on artists in Europe and in England in particular is probably hard to overestimate.

'Sketching a Man Jumping Out of a Window Before He Hits the Ground' Is Easy

While trying to SEE let alone identify or sketch dragonflies that we've seen in backyard and at Morris Arboretum and the Manayunk Canal over the last few days I was struck by how incredibly difficult it can be to use them as subjects for art. Some, not all, seem to never sit still. Worse they constantly change direction so that it's difficult to even take photos. I say this because with other subjects you might reasonably consider that the subject will continue in the same direction. So you can focus the camera a little bit ahead of the moving object hoping that the shutter will click just as he flies by. Forget that philosophy with dragonflies. They instead will have made two or three 90-180 degree turns instead of heading on to where you expect them to be.

I seemed to remember a quote from either Delacroix or Degas about being able to sketch a cat as if fell out of a window. Hmm. I don't think I have any hidden antagonism to our cats. As it is it turns out the quote was from Delacroix and he said that if you couldn't sketch a man jumping from a 4th floor window before he hit the ground you had little future as an artist. But there at least gravity is at work. You pretty much know where the man is heading. He won't make any 90 degree turns or looping curlicues. That's the source of the post title. Compared to drawing dragonflies from life Delacroix's task is easy.

Yesterday I took a number of photos of the small damselfly at top. As usual it looked unusual, perhaps a damselfly we'd never seen before. But I know better. It is, at least I'm pretty sure, a Variable Dancer, a damselfly fly that we've seen before including at Morris.

You can probably see why this type of photo, or sketch if I'd tried, doesn't often lead to interesting art. The seen is always one of incredible flatness, an almost two-dimensional subject against a flat two-dimensional background. Flat, flat, flat. I think that's one reason that when I use dragonflies in my artwork I make them small, part of a larger scene so that their two-dimensional qualities won't be so evident.

On the other hand if I paint them small I lose much of the detail, which is often quite striking. There are plenty of people doing illustrations of dragonflies and they concentrate on the detail, often at the expense of a sense of either animation or environment. But it's hard to get both. I try it various ways. The way I've tried here is to use a pen for the sketch. I know I won't be able to get many details, that the ink will run, and that every mistake will be there to stay. But it does seem to give me some chance of getting a bit of artistic spontaneity into such a horribly flat composition. The Dancer does disappear a bit more than I'd like but at the same time the painting doesn't look like a detailed, but somewhat dead illustration. Since dragonfly season has just begun I'm sure that there will be many more opportunities ahead.

I printed another color on the two-block reduction woodcut of the 'Black' Squirrel, Palm Warbler and Mourning Cloak butterfly and it is below. But the ink continues to take a long time to dry so I had to stop work on it and let the ink dry. In the meantime I decided to try some sketches based on many photos I've taken over the year of 2015. I don't like working from photos. But they can be good for studying details of birds that are often hard to see in binoculars. So anything based on them is almost always a quick study. I can't see doing developed work based on them. In this instance I happened to see a lot of Orchard Orioles over the last few weeks so it was nice to be able to see, and sketch, some of their details. This is a quick pencil and watercolor sketch in a Stillman and Birn Gamma sketchbook.

And finally the newest state of the two-block reduction woodcut. After much experimental proofing I decided that I needed to use a lighter tone in the background on the right side, especially as I wanted it to contrast with the black of the squirrel and tree on the left. The last step, I hope, will be to print that black, and to determine how much to leave on the right. This is a 4x6 inch print. It seems ridiculous to be making so many difficult artistic decisions about something so tiny. But what can I do? I've started and I'll finish. Hopefully the results, though small, will prove to be worth the effort.

Possibilities in Print

Black Squirrel, Palm Warbler and Mourning Cloak. Proof of Reduction Woodcut by Ken Jansuki.

Female American Kestrel with Dead American Robin. Proof of Linocut by Ken Januski.

It's almost unheard of for me to have two prints in progress that I'm happy with at the same time. It's hard enough to just get one. Of course just voicing this thought will probably jinx one or both of them.

I've been working mainly on the kestrel print since the ink is taking so long to dry on the squirrel reduction woodcut. But I had some left over ink from proofing the newest state of the kestrel today and decided to try it on the woodcut, especially as the color is close to the one I plan to use. The color is a bit thin but it gives me a good idea as to how the woodcut might continue to develop.

And the linocut looks good as is. I still plan to print two versions of the kestrel, one in just one color and the other with hand-coloring on top of that one color. I've ruined a number of prints by carving too much away and ending up with a print that is just too white. So this one may be ending soon. I just need to let it rest a bit and see if it looks like it holds together as is or needs a bit more tweaking.

Still not too many new warblers to distract me from finishing this though today did bring the first Greater Yellowlegs I've ever seen at Morris Arboretum. Did I ever mention that shorebirds are just as distracting as warblers?

In any case it's nice to have so many possibilities in print. And then there is that Warbling Vireo with Catkins seen recently. Maybe that would make an interesting print..............

Completed Reduction Woodcut, Awakened Sketchbook

Moleskine Sketchbook with Woodpecker Field Sketches and Carving Tools in Studio. Photo by Ken Januski.

As I was winding up the reduction woodcut I've been working on I kept noticing my poor neglected sketchbook off to the left of my cutting area. Though I take it out with me when I'm out birding I just can't convince myself to take it out and sketch in winter. The top sketch in photo above of a Hairy Woodpecker, conveniently outside my warm studio window is from December 28th. The page to the left has an Osprey from late November.

Today was particularly cold due to the wind so even though we watched a handsome male Pileated Woodpecker for at least 15 minutes I didn't sketch. But when I got home the guilt was just too strong. I HAD to resume sketching. So the photo at the bottom is the male Pileated from memory. It's not much but at least I'm reviving the habit.

Back when I was reading a lot about Winslow Homer, one of my favorite watercolorists, I read how he worked in his studio in Maine during the winter on his oil paintings. Everything in its place more or less with watercolors in the field in warmer weather and oils in the studio in winter.

So it's really not surprising that I should do more prints in winter, and more sketches from photos. But still it's nice to work from life, or at least from memories from life.

American Goldfinch, Great Blue Heron and Killdeer Along Snowy Banks of Manayunk Canal. Final Edition of Reduction Woodcut by Ken Januski.

Another reason I felt like sketching, and birding, is that I've finally finished the reduction woodcut! And I'm happy with it. The final version is above. I'm still not sure how many of the prints will go into the edition. I started off with 16 but there are a lot more prints will small smudges than I'd like. So I still have to figure out which ones will be in the edition. The more the better though, because I really like this print!

Opera and Representational Art

American Goldfinch, Great Blue Heron and Killdeer at Manayunk Canal. Third Color in Probable Four Color Reduction Woodcut by Ken Januski

Opera!?! I'm sure the connection between opera and representational art will seem very hard to believe to most readers. Though my knowledge of, and even experience of opera, is very small I have spent some time listening to and reading about it over the last six months. Unfortunately I've seen and heard none in person.

One of the books I've been reading is The History of Opera by Carolyn Abbate and Roger Parker. In many ways it's ridiculous for me to be reading this because it's aimed at people familiar with opera, which I am not. Still it does complement the Listening to and Understanding Opera course by Robert Greenberg from The Teaching Company that I've been listening to for about six months.

One of the main themes is the constant pendulum swing in opera between freedom for the music, especially the singers and strict adherence to the text, to the story being told.

I got a kick out of reading about this conflict because it's the one I experience in art ever since I turned from abstract art to representational art, specifically wildlife art, and even more specifically bird art.

As I've said many times I'm quite bothered by the seemingly blind adherence to photographic 'fact' that seems to dominate so much bird and wildlife art. Where in the world is the art? Where is the artistic expression? I found this surprisingly parallel to what I read about opera. The only difference is that it seems that more often it is the strict literalists calling for reform, asking and demanding that the music be truthful to the story, not an afterthought. Often melody and song have been the leading factors in opera. The story trails behind. And then the pendulum swings back the other way. It seems to be a steady conflict. The only difference that I can see in my comparison with representational art, especially wildlife art is that the pendulum has rarely swung in the more expressive direction.

In my own work I cannot deny my familiarity with art, art history and all the great and powerful art that has been made over thousands of years. It's impossible to deny the expressive possibilities of art. At the same time I do want to keep some attachment to the story, or in bird or wildlife art, those so-called 'facts' of description.

The debate as to how true I should stay to the colors of the scene along the Manayunk Canal has been a big factor in deciding which colors to use in my current woodcut. Color is just as emotionally powerful as song and I think it's foolish to deny it. So I've finally decided on a dark purplish blue for the third color of the woodcut. I spent a lot of time proofing and thinking and finally came up with this color.

The final color will probably be black, both for the goldfinch's wings and for the water. But the dark purple blue almost functions as a black so instead I might let it function as black and just use a lighter gray blue for the Great Blue Heron and some other areas. It will continue to be a debate between song and story, or wildlife 'fact' and color and art.

Below is a photo of the full image of the print. Because the ink is taking longer to dry than I expected the print itself is taking longer than expected.

American Goldfinch, Great Blue Heron and Killdeer at Manayunk Canal. Third Color in Probable Four Color Reduction Woodcut by Ken Januski.

Adding a Brown to the Goldfinch, Heron and Killdeer Woodcut

American Goldfinch, Great Blue Heron and Killdeer at Manayunk Canal. Second Color Printing of Reduction Woodcut in Progress by Ken Januski.

If I had carried on over the last two days assuming that the weather report I saw on Sunday morning was accurate I'm not sure things would have changed all that much. I suppose the extreme, 'life-threatening' warnings forced me to resign myself to staying home all day Monday and Tuesday, thus giving me time to concentrate on the new reduction woodcut. But I wanted to work on it anyway, blizzard or no blizzard.

As it turned out we got less than 2 inches of snow in our neighborhood. I can't complain, though we'll have to keep waiting to try out our snowshoes. I'm sure that there are people north of us along the Atlantic Coast that are happy for all the warnings.

I've added a burnt umber here, a color I hadn't originally intended to use. I had hoped that the earlier yellow ochre  could suffice for all of the American Goldfinch and Killdeer as well as most of the shrubs and twigs. But I soon realized that wouldn't work. I needed to add a second brown. It's turned out a bit browner and less warm than I'd hoped but the color will change again once I add the blue and black.

As usual with a print, there are a million things I could complain about. But all in all it's proceeding more or less as I had hoped. But finishing is always the hardest part. So stay tuned for further developments. Print is 9x11 inches, by the way with the actual image 6x8 inches. It's printed with soon-to-be obsolete Daniel Smith Water-soluble Ink on Rives Heavyweight Paper.

In case you don't remember or didn't read the post regarding the Philadelphia Mid-Winter Bird Census of a few weeks ago this was based on observations that day along the Manayunk Canal in Philadelphia.

The Geese Before the Snow

Over 225 Snow Geese Flying Over Morris Arboretum. Photo by Ken Januski.

Snow Geese Flying Over Morris Arboretum. Photo by Ken Januski.

So I had a nice day out birding today, seeing a number of new birds for the year. When I got home I had a very late lunch and turned on the television to see a blizzard warning for New York City. Blizzard?! We're not exactly next door to NYC but close enough. How could the 1 inch that was predicted for us turn into 12-24 for New York? Well as soon as I investigated I saw that we were now expected to get 14-24 inches.

So I guess that may help to explain the flock of 750-1000 Snow Geese that I saw flying over Morris Arboretum today. I was still changing shoes in the back of the car talking to someone from the arboretum when we heard some squawking, a squawking that didn't sound right for Canada Geese. I grabbed my camera and binoculars which were still in back of car and not yet around my neck to take a quick look. In the next minute or two three large flocks flew by. The photo above shows that they are in fact Snow Geese. The top photo show just how many.

The top photo is part of what we thought was a flock of 200. But there are 229 birds in that photo and it's not the complete flock. So my guess is that we actually saw closer to 1000 Snow Geese.

Is their flight related to the upcoming storm? It's hard to say but it's a noticeable coincidence.

Merlin at Houston Meadows. Photo by Ken Januski.

Male Pileated Woodpecker at Houston Meadows. Photo by Ken Januski.

As I walked through Morris today I saw spots where I expect to see warblers and other spring migrants and breeders. That got me started thinking about spring. I do love the birds of spring. But I've also come to love the birds of winter, like Snow Geese, and Merlin, pictured above. Pileated Woodpeckers are here all year but they're often easier to see in winter. I like the photo above because it shows (though you may need to magnify it) the red on sides of the cheek of the male woodpecker.

Northern Pintail. American Black Duck and American Wigeon in Swan Pond at Morris Arboretum. Photo by Ken Januski.

Immature Red-shouldered Hawk at Houston Meadows. Photo by  Ken Januski.

Other birds more commonly seen in winter include ducks like the surprising Northern Pintail and American Wigeon joining the slightly less surprising American Black Duck and quite predictable Mallards in the Swan Pond at Morris today. Below them one of two beautiful Red-shouldered Hawks seen at Houston Meadows earlier in the week.

With such birds around right now it's hard to be anxious for spring and its birds to get here. Though I may have second thoughts depending on how large our next snow fall is.

Amidst all this winter birding I have continued work on my new reduction woodcut. Above is the first color printed on Rives Heavyweight paper. I still have 2-3 more colors to print. I had thought I could get by with just two, but I think I need to add another brown for the gold finch, and then a blue and a black. If I'm snowed in for the next few days I may make good progress, a term I confess I've never understood. What other kind of progress is there? Bad progress. Back before the world of business totally destroyed the English language that would have been called regression.

A New Reduction Print

American Goldfinch, Great Blue Heron and Killdeer at Manayunk Canal in Winter. Reduction Woodcut by Ken Januski. Early Proof.

I really can't remember the last time I did a 'pure' reduction print. After struggling for what seemed weeks a few years ago to do complex reduction linocuts using oil-based inks I backed off from the process. Part of it was the technical ordeal involved. Part of it was my getting tired of breathing the solvents necessary for use with oil-based inks. But part of it also was aesthetics.

I realized that I was using reduction linocuts as though I was painting, oil painting, where I could keep adding colors until the painting/linocut looked right. But this is counter-productive in a way. With a reduction print you keep cutting away the part of the surface that will print. So yes you can keep adding more colors, but the area on which you can print them gets smaller and smaller. So they have less effect.

Another aspect of reduction print as painting is that I was more interested in the overall surface, how one area was one color and another area a different color, one small area bright and another dark. That's the way most painters think. But often this is at the expense of line. I think in my earliest prints, including the complex oil-based reduction linocuts I didn't care much about line.

When I moved to multi-block woodcut or a combination of that and linocut I became much more concerned with line. It's a major element of so many prints in the history of printmaking. And of course it's generally associated with drawing. Since I love to draw it's no surprise that I liked the idea of making line more important. Off the top of my head I'd say it's been a very important part of my prints for the last two years or so.

To make a long story short I've been curious as to what might happen if I returned to reduction prints, though in this case reduction woodcut rather than reduction linocut. Above is the second test proof on copier paper. It's based on the numerous sketches and watercolors that I've showed during the past few weeks. I'm sure I'll be tempted to 'rescue' the print by adding a second block. But for now I'm going to try to keep it a pure reduction print. I'll only use this one block in the print, come what may!

My complex reduction prints of the past often used 5-10 colors. All those colors make registration all the more difficult. But I used them because I was thinking like a painter. I used however many colors I needed, and could stand printing, in order to get the look I wanted. Here, as in other recent woodblocks I don't plan to use that many colors. At first I thought four or five. But right now I'm hoping I can get by with just three. This isn't a matter of laziness. It's just a matter of trying to stay simple and see what happens. This is also called the KISS principle, something I first ran across in computer programming: Keep it Simple Stupid! It's always made sense to me though I haven't been the best practitioner.

Finished Chickadee Woodcut, After Cold and Gray CBC

Carolina Chickadee. Multi-block Reduction Woodcut (Full Version) by Ken Januski.

A fuller day than I expected on Friday prevented me finishing the Carolina Chickadee on Friday as I'd hoped. Saturday was the Wyncote Audubon Christmas Bird Count so I knew I'd have no time then. And I didn't. We started birding at the house at 7:00 A.M., walked about six miles along Manayunk Canal, at Andorra Nature Center and at Pastorius Park, and then did some final birding before it got dark at home around 4:30 P.M. I didn't want to risk the entire print by trying to work on it after such a long day.

One of the last changes I'd made before Friday was the addition of a small bit of wood putty to try to regain a very small section of wood that I wanted back. I've now learned that this rarely makes sense for me as long as I work at such a small scale. For larger pieces the wood repairs might be large enough that I could carve them like fresh wood. But in my recent forays on a small scale I've not been pleased with the results.

So early this morning I carved those areas a bit, proofed and then printed. Minor smudges ended up on more prints than I was happy with but I did finish printing the edition. It will be 24 minus six or more that I'll make Trial Proofs. Above is the full version, 7x9 inches on Rives Heavyweight paper. Below is just the image itself, 4x6 inches.

Carolina Chickadee. Multi-block Reduction Woodcut (Cropped Version) by Ken Januski.

As usual I often end a print thinking about all the mistakes I've made and lessons I've learned for future prints rather than just enjoying the one I've finished. Though there are some problems with this print, more technical, e.g. the wood putty, than anything else my guess is that by tomorrow I'll be quite happy with the print.

I made it in a hurry, more as a holiday greeting print than as a finished print. But once I got started on it my artistic preferences kicked in and I tried to make it a work of art, with all the time and effort that this often entails. It's a good thing that I remembered it was a holiday gift with a deadline. So I finally had to forget about artistic improvements I'd like to make.

It's always been intended as a somewhat rough, somewhat primitive print. Though it may have had its origins in a photo, no one will mistake it for a photo. And that's just the way I like it!

As for the Christmas Bird Count we really saw no special birds. The only raptors we saw were a couple of Red-tailed Hawks, and a lonely Black Vulture. Who could expect a full day without at least one Turkey Vulture? The only thrush we saw was an American Robin, in our own yard before we took off. We saw no Eastern Bluebirds at Andorra Natural Area where we often see them this time of year.

But we did see our first Pied-billed Grebe in a few weeks in the Schuylkill River just north of Flat Rock Dam and the Manayunk Canal. Flying in that same area, and landing only briefly, were four male Common Mergansers. These two species might have been the highlight of the day.

Today it's bright and sunny, quite a contrast to yesterday. We'd probably see far more birds today. But the count was scheduled for yesterday. If it had been scheduled for today then yesterday probably would have been the sunny day. Regardless we always enjoy the chance to be out in winter seeing and counting birds. More counts will soon be here as 2015 arrives so we're looking forward to seeing more birds on those counts.

What prints are not given away will be up for sale on my Etsy store in a day or so.

The Curse of Facility

American Goldfinch Eating Thistle. Cropped Version of Final Edition of Two-block Woodcut by Ken Januski.

I think I have discovered what distinguishes a painting that is simple and unpretentious from one that possesses lasting qualities. In short, I have often wondered why the extreme facility and boldness of touch in Ruben's work never disturbs me, but in paintings of men like Vanloo(and I include modern painters as well as his contemporaries) it merely seems an odious form of technique. Fundamentally, I am perfectly well aware that the facility in the work of a great master is not the chief quality, that it is only the means and not the end, and that the reverse is true of mediocre painters.

Eugene Delacroix in The Journal of Eugene Delacroix, Phaidon Books, translated by Hubert Wellington. Entry for Tuesday, October 9, 1849.

I don't care if a drummer falls off a stool as long as he keeps the beat...There is something human about imperfection.. and we could use a lot more of it.

My paraphrase of record producer Rick Hall as recently seen and heard in the film Muscle Shoals. Magnolia Pictures, directed by Greg "Freddy" Camalier.

I've never had to worry about facility. The only time I've come close to it, or come close to it today, I think is when I do vigorous drawings in charcoal, both abstract and representational. I always feel like maybe I'm skating by problems when I work that way and may be making more superficial art. On the other hand there are times when it's nice to feel that I have a natural skill at some things. But I've had friends with seemingly inborn facility. It's often given them more immediate artistic success but from my perspective at least, at a cost. Their work can sometimes seem empty.

I mention this mainly because I like to acknowledge all the nuggets of wisdom in The Journal of Eugene Delacroix. But it also holds true for this print and most of my prints, especially the multi-block ones. The first block is printed in four colors in the reduction method. So I carve, print a color, carve some more and print another color onto the earlier prints and hope that the registration works, i.e. the new color goes where I expect it to on the earlier color, not 1/8 of an inch off in this direction or that. By the time I've gotten four colors down I've held my breath four times.

And then comes the other side of the block, where I've carved the final black color. Even if all the other colors have lined up pretty well the last block can still bring serious problems. In this print there were a few minor registration problems on a  print or two but basically things turned out the way I planned.

I mention this because I think it shows that it's a bit hard to get carried away by facility when working with reduction and multi-block prints. There is just too, too much that can go wrong.

I always know this from the start. I use this complex process not to exhibit some sort of facility or technical ability. And it's a good thing because I might get laughed out of town if I did. I do it because it allows me to get the expressive range that I'd like, a multiplicity of shimmering colors and shapes. In this sense a lack of registration can sometimes help, at least in places.

In that sense too I think it echoes Rick Hall in the final moments of the wonderful film Muscle Shoals. I mainly listen to classical music now followed by jazz, and rarely rock or blues or soul. But I did grow up with them and love them and this film reminds me of some of the best of it. What I like about that quote though is the emphasis on imperfection.

The world will always  be imperfect, though I think technology always offers the false lure of perfection. We should all be thankful for imperfection.

American Goldfinch Eating Thistle. Full Version of Final Edition of Two-block Woodcut by Ken Januski.

Above is another version of the print, this time showing the paper border. This print started off in an edition of 16 but now is down to either 12 or 13. It is printed with Daniel Smith water-soluble colors on Shin Torinoko paper. When the ink finally dries I'll scan it and if the photo is better replace these slightly off center ones with those. I'll also put some of them up for sale on my Etsy store, but only once the ink is dry enough to safely ship.

As I recall this year started for me with the print that is the header for my blog now, Mergansers and Grebes on the Schuylkill River, another multi-block reduction woodcut. More important than the medium though is the combination of realism and abstraction. I think I've finally reached a style I can be happy with for a while, though I'll also continue with much simpler woodcuts as in the Piping Plover, also from this year.