A New Adventure: Sermon on the Mountain

This is a woodcut which may take a long time to make. The paper is Kochi-shi unbleached mulberry fibre, rather coarse. For the main four blocks I have used 'Hoop pine' and 'Poplar' ply.

carving the key block

this is the block used for shading

Many, many years ago, buildings were finished off using the simplest of elements and materials to hand, and for the mostpart, those simple finishes proved to be the most appropriate against the harsh weather conditions.

With that in mind I’m experimenting with the colours on this print by using white lime and iron oxide, straight from the shelves of the building supply store, normally used for rendering and white washing. I wondered how much the lime would absorb the other inks and how well it would print. I haven’t used any binding agents. So far so good.

a clean up after the winter and into printing again

lime, sumi, iron oxide and etching ink

For shading I use sumi ink and for the key block a matt black oil based etching ink. Right through, depending on the block, I will use either a baren or an etching press.

the one and only proof so far

The photos are of the blocks and the one proof made so far (very rough and impatiently).

detail of proof

Every single section in the vaulting will be overprinted depicting various scenes of the past. The fabric of the building is not just stone, mud and lime.

curved plank of solid beech sitting on its edge

For those detailed blocks I found a nice plank of beech, which incidentally, was used in the early days of printing as the preferred material for cutting blocks in Europe.

sack and massacre of Beziers and sack of Acre

Montsegur and Bartholomew Night

One section of vaulting will be printed using a combination of set type and calligraphy and miniature painting for a capital letter. Another section will be an icon in gold.

The plan is to make at least ten prints with those blocks. What’s more, I hope to do it before the end of the year. Watch this space...

You've been watching for a long time. We now live in January 2018. Time flies. 

The blocks have been cut.

And proofed.

Additional blocks were cut on linoleum with references to more recent outrages.

Employed letter type to add text to a section of this print.

Ready to print.

Text printed and the first capital hand painted

The completed print.

Background of the print “To Ponder”: Instead of calling this print as I intended "Sermon on the Mountain" I thought it was a matter "To Ponder"

Inspiration for this print was a section of the ruins of the medieval abbey of Villelongue, north west of Carcassonne.

Thousands of years ago there were many unexplained things happening which people explained by weaving stories which became myths. Over time those myths morphed into beliefs and into doctrines. While the story progressed some people put another spin on those beliefs. Tolerance allowed beliefs to exist side by side, but our tolerance appears to have completely dwindled, despite ready access to literature and internet.

The edifice represents a part of this region’s history. What took place then is still happening under our noses except that the scale of the horror in now greater and the methods employed are manifold.

How the print was made:

The print has progressed over the last few years, depending on what I was occupied with at the time, and at a rate which allowed me to research essential elements.

The main “frame”, for want of a better word, is printed using five blocks of poplar ply.

The white background has been done using white lime with a dash of linseed oil.

For the ochre I used iron oxide with rice paste.

The dark shadows and all the black lines are done with “Sumi” and the shadows done in “bokashi” style.

Everything was printed by hand along the lines of the Japanese “Moku Hanga” method.

The meaning:

Two vaults depict the sack of Acre by the Crusaders in their quest to subdue the Muslims; the sack of Beziers and the burning of the Cathars on Mont Ségur during a crusade initiated by the Pope to bring, as he called it, ‘heretics into line’; and a scene of the Bartholomew night when Catharina de Medici dealt with the Protestants.

These scenes were carved on a beech plank, like Albrecht Dührer would have done at the time.

The upper vault depicts more recent history - the outrage of the apartheid era and the current situation in the Middle East.

As such they are represented by a more modern medium of linoleum and a different style of drawing.

The genocide in Armenia, in Rwanda Burundi, in Sréberniça and the camps of the Holocaust during the Second World War.

These names of recent history are written using a pen made of a goose feather quill.

With letter type I printed the first article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations in Latin. This was based on the first declaration of the United States of America Constitution and the French constitution of 1791. The English and French translations are:

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Tous les êtres humains naissent libres et égaux en dignité et en droits. Ils sont doués de raison et de conscience et doivent agir les uns envers les autres dans un esprit de fraternité.

This is followed by an excerpt of a poem written by Yevgeni Yevtushenko called Babi Yar.

Wild grasses rustle over Babi Yar,

The trees look sternly, as if passing judgement.

Here, silently, all screams, and, hat in hand,

I feel my hair changing shade to gray.

And I myself, like one long soundless scream

Above the thousands of thousands interred,

I'm every old man executed here,

As I am every child murdered here.

Now, more than ever, I believe people should heed the past and not fall prey to populists, megalomaniacs and demented rulers.

Guests printing sunflower

Woodblock printing is fun as was so clearly shown by a couple who visited our B&B a few weeks ago.

After having seen Carcassonne and a few of the Cathar castles, cycled up some serious hilly roads and enjoyed the surroundings, they decided to have a go at woodblock printing.

Apart from remembering what they did at college during art class, like creating a linocut, no other attempt was made at printing.

subject

They chose to do a sunflower and there were only two days left to do it. The sunflower was picked from the garden and a two block print decided upon. Each cutting one block at the same time and alternating between the blocks while cutting. It was truly a joint effort. As time was a limiting factor, all the intro about woodblock printing etc was skipped.

trial block

Not too much time was spent on various techniques apart from how to cut a fine line with particular attention to the direction of the grain of the timber, an explanation of the importance of correct registration and keep the hands and fingers at all times behind the gouges. Dave Bull's (founder of the Baren Forum) favourite motto is "Cut - Print". No more aptly demonstrated in this case.

cutting away

As blocks we used two pieces of poplar ply, which is readily available here. The design was drawn straight on the block with a felt pen, copied on tracing paper and transferred to the second block using carbon paper. Of course making sure the registration was right.

After that it was all downhill. I'd imagined that after a few hours they would have liked a break and do some more sightseeing, but no, they were hooked (line and sinker included for sure).

Not much explaining was required after that apart from the odd tip and a bit of guidance. They really took to it like ducks to water. It was a joy to watch. Anyway at the end of day one and printing very late in the evening, as it was rather hot in the afternoon, we had the first proofs.

For the yellow, deep cadmium yellow dry pigment with rice paste was used, Moku Hanga fashion. That was just and only just possible as the humidity was very low indeed. For the black we had to resort to oil based etching ink as it was an absolute no show using Sumi or the like. The paper was 200 gms cartridge. Because of the nature of the print and the weight of the paper I'd imagined to get away with not moistening the paper and I did: it did not cockle or warp.

applying pigment with brush

They had a go, using the brush for applying the pigment, using the brayer, placing the paper correctly, making use of the registration slots (kento's), printing with the Baren, in short the works and in the end, there it was, the smile.

smiles end of day one

The advice was, what you don't cut now, you can always cut away later. Not the other way round. Thus it was decided by the the two xylographers to cut away more in the petals, keeping in mind the natural shading and overlapping of the petals. This adds some depth to the image.

first cut

Also some repairs were required to the sunflower heart which they did themselves. There was discussion on how to finish the ends of some of the petals and how to to achieve it. This was tried on a separate block before cutting the actual block.

working out detail

This was all done the next day, after which we made the final print.

second cut

During printing the paper picked up some pigment outside the actual image. However I believe it only enhances the playfulness and vibrance of the sunflower head and suggests movement.

yellow block

final print