April 03rd, 2020

April, 3rd, the midst of the worldwide hardship.  My husband and I have been under Stay Home Order for a few weeks by now but it seems to be for a long few months.  From the first day of the lockdown, I determined to be a productive being at home, focusing what we can do instead of what we cannot do.  I began woodblock curving since I can no longer access to the studio for printmaking.  Woodblock printmaking requires such a different set of approaches and mindset and it is a good time for me to explore this area as I am given this continuous spare time.  I use calligraphy brush with a black sumo ink to draw the design directly on plate, no sketches underneath.  This is a distinguished style that I understand that Shikoh Munakata who established his woodblock printmaking world in the early 20th century.  Calligraphy brush in general creates "natural" and somewhat unexpected strokes and lines I desires, instead of predictable and uniformed lines.  Naturally my brush strokes on the plates are lot more bold and dynamic and the lines are so definite and pronounced.  I am not so envisioning for layering with other colors that are faithful to the outlines and the shapes as you may know of the traditional woodblock prints, though adding some accent colors is always a possibility.  Yesterday as a side project, I made three face masks, one made from two sheets of paper towels and the others from Japanese gauze handkerchiefs.  I googled "how to" pages in numerous Japanese sites and found simple methods to proceed.  When the three masked are lined up on my work table, I smiled and felt an encouragement to move on to the next day.  I am grateful.  

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