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Finally time for work to begin on the next print in the 'My Solitudes' series; this will be the River in Spring. We've had three river views so far, and this will be the fourth and final one from that location. As you can see from the small images on the index page for the series, only one of the three has been a 'clear' view of the area; the other two took a different direction. So I have been thinking that this one should 'pull back' and show a good overview of the place.

Here are a couple of quotes from the story. I think either one of these could make a good starting point:

I hadn't realized it when here during the other seasons, but I now learn that there is an extra bonus to this spot that I have chosen for my camps. One of the trees on the opposite bank, upstream a few metres from where I sit, is a cherry. It's not a particularly large or showy one, but the branches do hang out over the water in an attractive way. It is now in bloom, although in this evening light the blossoms are little more than clusters of pale shadows against the dark background. When I open the tent flap in the morning this tree will be the first thing I see, and in that fresh new light it will certainly set the stamp of the season on this trip.

... and ...

As I get to the top of the path, at the point where the road becomes visible and I 'return to civilization', I turn back for another look at the river. I hadn't noticed it before, even though I have passed this way many times, but the view from this point is quite attractive. Well, I'm in no rush this afternoon, so why not ... I swing my pack off, lean it against a fallen trunk at the side of the path, and take a seat. Nearby trees on the hillside form a frame for the scene. The water down below is seen just at the point where it leaves the deep pool at the base of the tall crag (which no longer looks very high seen from this point!). The steep cliff on the opposite shore catches the afternoon sunshine. I can no longer hear the ripple of the water rushing past; that 'soundtrack' - which has been with me unceasing over the past 24 hours - has been replaced by the sound of birdsong in the forest around me.

Back when I made those camping trips that eventually became this 'Solitudes' series, I had no intention at all of creating prints of the places; I was just camping. But I sometimes took my camera with me, and digging through the photo albums now I see this image (from 1997) that matches that first quote. This isn't much of a 'design', but anyway, just so you can see the place - the lonely cherry tree:

I turned up no photos of the other view - from the top of the path - so jumped on my bike and made a scouting trip over there the other day. This is the location:

This one has possibilities; there are any number of ways to organize the elements, the water surface, the overhanging trees, opposite bank, etc. etc. I took a number of shots to give me plenty of ideas, and then came home to sit and think about it ...

But.

Before I get too far involved in this, there are a couple of things to think about. The first, which I have been talking about in emails with friends recently, is that the last few prints in this series have moved off in a direction that I really don't want to go. They have included far too much 'realistic detail'. Now this isn't just a reflection of their roots in photographs. After all, the very first print in this series was also 'based' on a photograph, as described and illustrated here, but yet it ended up clearly looking like a print.

Where to draw the line between abstraction and realism is turning out to be a difficult decision. I want the prints to look 'real' - I'm not an abstractionist - but if they end up looking completely realistic, then there's no point in making woodblock prints. So this next one is going to move back a step or two, more in the direction of that first print.

There is another factor though. Of the eight prints finished so far, two stand out head and shoulders above the rest in terms of the reaction they have received from collectors, and the 'market'. I get frequent emails from people asking to buy 'just that one please!' ...

As you know, I don't break up my sets to sell these prints individually, so I regretfully have to decline such orders. But it would be foolish of me to ignore what is happening - this is feedback. Those people are saying "This is good - I like this!"

The two prints are the River in Winter, and the Seacoast in Summer:

The batch of reprinting mentioned in the previous post has now wrapped up, and the stacks of blank paper have magically been transformed into prints!

They're not all packaged yet, but I'll be doing that over the next few days in my off time from work on the latest 'My Solitudes' print.

Most of these images were re-prints of items already in the Mokuhankan catalogue, but one of them is being newly added - the Sukenobu design of a girl sitting under cherry blossoms that was originally part of my Surimono Album #1.

It's been a full ten years since I cut the blocks and made the original 200 copies. When I sat down last week to make this reprint, I felt that the colour scheme I used back then was a bit weak, so had no hesitation in making a few changes. Nothing dramatic, but I do feel it looks better this way ...

Old version:

New version:

(Actually, a big part of the difference apparent there is the poor quality of the scan from ten years ago. Someday, I'll have to find the time to re-scan all that old stuff ... Someday!)

Here's the order page for the new print ...