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I'm not able to show you
the first print I tried to make (in early 1981 - I
was 30 at the time). It's not because I'm too
embarrassed to show it to you, but simply because I
don't have a copy of it. I only made one, and I
tossed it in the garbage can a few minutes after
making it, along with the woodblock - I was so
shocked at how bad it was!
You may indeed laugh at how naive that was, but
I simply hadn't pictured woodblock printmaking as
being something particularly difficult or
challenging. How difficult could it be - just cut a
shape on a hunk of wood, brush some pigment over
it, slap a piece of paper on the wood, and rub the
back until the colour transferred. Nothing to it
...
That disaster didn't put me off the idea of
printmaking though, and I soon tried again, this
time with a bit more planning and care ...
At this time I had neither proper tools, block
nor paper. These first few prints were all carved
with a steel X-acto knife, on chunks of wood I
'found' somewhere (mostly maple I think). I had no
baren to print them, so used a bamboo 'wooden'
spoon from the kitchen.
(click image for a larger
version in a 'popup' window)
This print has no title; but I can see by the
cartouche that it was intended to be part of a
series of five views of Japanese buildings. I no
longer remember what I was thinking, but I suppose
the round pattern is some kind of bamboo-framed
opening in an old plaster wall, no doubt something
I saw in a book somewhere.
Needless to say, the other four 'views' never
came into being ...
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