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This is the spring of
'83, two years after the initial printmaking
experiment. Only eight prints in two years wouldn't
seem to show that I was particularly enthusiastic
about becoming a printmaker, but at this time I was
very much wrapped up with work at the music store,
where I had been offered the job of general manager
after coming back from the three-month trip to
Japan. And with my first daughter, Himi, being born
just about the same time as this print, there were
plenty of distractions around ...
(click image for a larger
version in a 'popup' window)
I'm curious as to whether this was taken from a
photograph or whether I sketched it; I cannot now
remember. What I do remember is that shortly before
this I had run across a copy of 'The Tranquility
and the Turbulence', a book on the Canadian
printmaker Walter Phillips. Not that you could tell
by looking at this print, but what I saw
there did make quite an impact on me. It opened my
eyes to the idea that woodblock prints didn't have
to show centuries old ladies in kimono ... You may
laugh when you read that, but remember that I had
(and have) very little knowledge of art or art
history, and at this point had never seen a single
woodblock print other than the traditional Japanese
type.
I imagine that while looking through that book I
was thinking (to myself, of course!) "Hmmm, maybe I
could be the 'next' Walter Phillips ..."
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