Kabuki Inspired Clay

Last year I was inspired by Japanese woodcuts of kabuki actors.

I love how the voluminous fabric of their costumes takes over.

  I drew them into clay. 

I liked their simplicity at bisque.

 They stayed like this for months but I final got around to completing their robes.

Although flat, they have supports enabling them to stand up.

Perhaps I'll get more of my flat pieces to stand in future.

Harry Brockway

 Harry Brockway - stonecarver and illustrator. Take a look at his portfolio - highly skilled artist!

Two charity shop finds: Tom Sawyer and Huckberry Finn.

I was attracted by the wood engravings of course.

I'd never read these classics before and really enjoyed them.

The joie de vivre and ingenuity of the boys and the dialects spoken.

Eye openers to social history and attitudes in that time and place.



Mostly Prints

Mostly Prints, a photo by Rover's Eye on Flickr.

Some of my favourite prints from Flickr

Kitagawa Utamaro - Less is More

Details from Kitagawa Utamaro's woodcuts at Ikon Gallery, Birmingham in December last year.

Utamaro specialized in figures, portraits of the beautiful and "shunga".

He was a master of subtle expression, draped and translucent fabrics and, of course, composition.

I hope he wouldn't mind me cropping them.

Images in the accompanying book often cover a double page spread with "explicit detail" usually confined to one page. I experimented with cropping to see how much is told in a tiny (non explicit) section.

 

I really like the kimono patterns, the angles of folds in the layered garments, the colours - indigo, gold, palest peach, and those wonderfully chiseled lines shown in the first and third clips here.

 

 Look him up and see his complete prints. 

Hilary Paynter

 More wood engravings.

Bridge in Calabria   1971

  Again great use of diagonals in the compositions.

The Wall  1995

  Man-made rift between peoples. Here Hilary writes about this piece.



The Discovery of Lascaux  1977

  Inspired by the story of cave paintings found by children whilst searching for their lost dog.



Tree with a Long Memory   2003

 Here she uses the natural wood shape beautifully and echoes the rings of the tree. Cracks in the bark bite into the edges of the print.

This exhibition, just off St Paul's Square in Birmingham was well work hunting down. 

I enjoyed it very much.  

Angie Lewin   Mug with Feathers

Their detail and skill is amazing.

 Chris Daunt   Magda with Flowers

Rosamund Fowler  Flying Fish Flowers
I love the qualities of line and use of contrast in wood engravings. Original limited edition prints are for sale and affordable. One hundred and twenty three beautifully designed and crafted wood engravings currently showing at
RBSA, Birmingham
but only until 20th November.
Visit here to catch the exhibition at a gallery near you.

Henri Riviere

I am big fan of woodcuts and the Japanese are experts of course. I recently discovered the work of french artist, Henri Riviere, who was heavily influenced by their powerful compositions.

He also painted in oils and watercolours and produced several lithographs. His restricted colour palette captures cold, wet, stormy weather perfectly .....brrrr!

As artists do, he seems to have obsessed at times - cliffs, sailing boats, the wind, tree trunks, umbrellas and something else ............. illustrated 7 times in this post. 

Some of his "Thirty Six Views of the Eiffel Tower" are a great record of life in late 19th century Paris. The tower was the tallest construction in Europe and must have made parisians feel so small with its omnipresence.