PAUL BINNIE Japanese Woodblock Print GRAND CANYON

CLOUD SHADOWS, GRAND CANYON

A New Woodblock print by Paul Binnie for April 2007

I have been working for over two years on an exceptional new print, the first design in my new series ‘Meishou to no Tabi’, or Travels with the Master. It is a very large design called “Cloud Shadows, Grand Canyon”, measuring 47 x 67 cm, or 18.5 x 26.5 inches, printed on fine hand-made washi paper, and created in an edition of only 100. Destined to become one of my best-known images, it will be my 100^th Japanese print to date, and the story of its conception and creation is fascinating.

The original idea for the piece was proposed in the summer of 2004 by two print enthusiasts based in the US, who intended to commission the print from me, and a large-scale drawing and subsequently the key-block were created later that year, after I had visited the Grand Canyon in October. I unfortunately fell ill in the US, which somewhat delayed the project as I was affected for several months, and sadly, for various reasons, the two commissioners were thereafter unable to continue their support of the project, so it was some time before I was able to carry on the print in my own time, carving the large number of oversized blocks between other jobs. I decided to make the design the first in a series of prints paying homage to Yoshida Hiroshi, the early 20^th Century Japanese printmaker, whose work I collect, since he made a well-known print of the Grand Canyon in 1925; the new piece was conceived as a sort of dialogue with the past, in which I as a contemporary printmaker could add my voice to that of one of the greatest print artists of 80 years ago. I wanted to make the link with the master who inspired the new piece in the title of the series, and thus pay my respects to an artist who has so influenced my landscape work.

The test prints of the final colour scheme for the print were completed at the end of October 2006, and the final edition of the design will be printed from these tests. In all, 32 colours are employed in the print, including mica and special techniques such as ‘gomazuri’, grainy printing, and ‘baren sujizuri’, where lines or swirls made by pressing with the edge of the baren are used for aesthetic affect. It takes approximately three months or so to print such a large piece with so many colours and so around late April 2007 the completed print will be generally released.

Paul Binnie