Article on Japanese aesthetics

http://www.brainpickings.org/2015/05/28/in-praise-of-shadows-tanizaki/?mc_cid=c8461486ba&mc_eid=77c02641f2

Enzo 67

I did a technique where you roll the brush across the page, then with a few added lines, it began to look like a place in the drakensburg called the amphitheatre.

Enzo 66

Enzo 65

Enzo 64

Enzo 63

I'm thinking of using hummingbirds as a motif in the next project so I gave it a bash. Learning from the sparrow I copied. This one doesn't have enough flow but I'll practice when I've got some time.

Enzo 62

I took this opportunity to practice some grass. I'm planning to make a scarf with sumi painting and a carved metal component. The composition is not locked in yet but I'm thinking swampy grasses and possibly weaver birds.

Painting on silk again

I've had a modicum of success now, I prepared the stretched silk with fixative, let it dry overnight and the excessive bleeding of ink has stopped. I'm going to steam it tonight then wash it to see if the ink stays as dark.

The trick is to keep a pretty dry brush. This composition wasn't that great but I wasn't expecting it to work so hadn't planned a good one.

Enzo 61

Sizing the silk

It seems there is a solution to the silk bleed problem. People who paint with dyes on silk first 'size' the silk with various chemicals. These agents fill the gaps between the fibres and stop the spread of ink. After it has been steam set, the sizing is then washed out if the silk. Also the silk should be stretched on a frame.

I'm not sure on the traditional Japanese sizing recipe, there was mention of a specific ratio of alum and glue but I'll be happy if I can find some commercially available solution.

Enzo 60

Enzo 59 my dog ate my enzo

My dog literally ate my enzo today so I made another

Enzo 58

Yesterday's Enzo, I didn't get a chance to post it

Enzo 57

An evening orchid,
Hidden in it's scent
The flower's whiteness.

Buson

Enzo 56

Furu ike ya
kawazu tobikomu
mizu no oto

Basho

old pond . . .
a frog leaps in
water’s sound

Translated by William J. Higginson

Perhaps the most famous haiku by Matsuo Bashô

Silk follow up

I ironed and hand washed the squares without the ink washing out.

Reading a little more about other silk painting I'm going to try wetting the fabric before painting next time, this could help prevent the ink bleeding.

Painting on silk

I bought some silk to paint on, it was used in China for sumi-e before paper was invented. I chose an off white raw silk with great texture.

There is not much info online about painting sumi on silk, most of what I found was using modern paints and resists. So I cut two squares and gave it a go. I used the bird I had just learnt.




I had put a felt blotter under it but it still bled a lot. With the next one I put carlton roll over the felt under the silk and it absorbed the excess ink much more readily. The second one did bleed but not as much.








Now I'm going to iron these and wash them to see if they become colour fast

Enzo 55

I will remember the kisses our lips raw with love and how you gave me everything you had and how I offered you what was left of me.

Bukowski

Enzo 54 and some sparrow practice

Life happens
Zen is optional

Sounds a bit trite but it's true enough.




I've wanted to try drawing birds, so I followed a YouTube video. I've found the best way short of having a teacher is to copy brush strokes, then practice them, then move on to drawing your own.
The bottom one I did while watching, the top I did from memory

If you want to watch the video:

https://youtu.be/Ri-LEBbDJP4

Enzo 53

Nothing special today, just an enzo fulfilling my gong. Too many things on the go this morning and the gas geyser decided to nor work. I did buy new paper, mulberry paper with a purple tint. It seems impossible to find a stockist with white or even cream.

I'm going to get some silk as that was used before paper was a regular thing in China. I've seen some garments hand painted with sumi techniques. It may require a "fixer" but I haven't been able to find out what that would be. It could just mean ironing the fabric after painting.

Enzo 52

Enzo 51

I had some ink and time so I painted a few more

Enzo 50 halfway there, 100 days is longer than I thought

I used an instagram filter on this one. One if the issues with photographing drawings on white paper is that the paper appears blue or the white balance is off or there are small bumps which turn into shadows. Over been putting mine up on a wall with natural light and using the manual settings to overcome the blueness. The instagram filter makes it look aged and overpowers the shadow effect which suited this picture. I'm not likely to use it on every picture though.

Mild steel plate

I have keratosis in my eye so I can't drive anywhere today, seemed like a good time to start some carving. I've made two new tagane and a punch so far. I cut a mild steel plate into a circle a while ago to practice on.
First I used sumi ink and brush to draw some possible designs.



Then having prepared the plate with an abrasive stone, I drew a landscape with an enzo moon and a withered, hollow tree.

Using this tagane



I outlined the design.




The tagane cut nicely, making new ones from the correct steel and refining the shapes has was the right move.




I carved the cavity for the inlay of the Enzo. I'm going to use fine silver.





Then I got to shaping the tree. Getting the rounded look in shallow relief is a challenge. Once I've shaped and smoothed it I will give it texture.





More to follow...

Test plates etc

I was chiseling away at a test plate yesterday but I've realised something about my mental process, test plates/pages don't work for me. To put care and hours into something I have to believe it is the final piece. Testing a carving technique by carving a flower pendant works, if I just carve a plate with no purpose I peter out about a quarter of the way in. If I screw up royally then it becomes a test piece but mentally I must be making the real thing or my brain shifts to neutral.

Enzo 49

I'm more happy with this one than yesterday's. The addition of colour helps.

I did a few practice ones on the big roll of cheaper paper I bought. It's called trestle paper because it's used to cover long tables. It's quite good for sumi as it is thin like washi paper so it makes for good practice as washi paper is expensive.

Enzo 48

Elegant depiction of sakura is still eluding me, time for practice. Perhaps I need to see one in real life, not just pictures.

I may have been thinking too small

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/245938829623798237/

Seems some Enzo are much larger than I thought.

Enzo 47

The moon's the same old moon,
The flowers exactly as they were,
Yet I've become the thingness
Of all the things I see!

-   Bunan

Enzo 46

I loved you like a man loves a woman he never touches, only writes to, keeps little photographs of.

Charles Bukowski

I was looking at cloud formations yesterday and how different types clouds look together. There were background light fluffy ones and foreground dark skuddy ones. 

Enzo 45 the moon and sakura

I've wanted to draw cherry blossoms for a while now. So I watched a few tutorials yesterday and tried it out today.

Rough ground tagane

I ground the tapers thinner so when I shape them with files I have less material to remove.

Macro lens

I bought a macro lens to better capture details from my carving. My phone camera is pretty good but macro is quite a specialist thing for it to handle.


Without lens



With lens

Being able to take quality images of your work is essential as not everyone will be able to hold the piece or see as close up without some form of magnifying apparatus.

Gago In

You may have notices the red stamps appearing on my latest Enzo. This is a form of signing your name in China and Japan. There are different types of signature stamps for different uses. Official ones are obviously subject to many rules but an artists signature can be anything significant to the artist. You can read more about them here http://www.tessellations.org/seth-asian-chop-1.shtml

These are my first and are quite rough, some are really beautiful. I will carve others as artists stamps are normally made from stone, not wood like these.



I made one Enzo stamp and one which has been a part of my signature for years. I designed it in second year, 1996.

I bought a standard stationary ink stamp and red ink. The wood soaked up quite a bit on the first few times, but they're stamping quite nicely now. I had a bit of marble in my workshop a while ago, I'll see if I can find it and make some nicer looking ones.

Mother's day Enzo 44

Mothers day, a day to honour not just those who have given birth to children but the forces of incubation, birth and nurturing. I feel the artistic process follows these stages.
I have written Frigg in elder futhark runes as she is the wife of Odin and mother of all in the Nordic religion.