Small Ink & Watercolour Paintings, 2022

Small Ink &
Watercolour Paintings

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An evolution of the black & white "chiaroscuro" woodcut-like drawings that I've been doing for more than 20 years and have used in books like "Wise Acres" in 2000 and in The Rooming House in 2022.

They bear a strong resemblance to "Western" colour woodblock prints, such as the ones by Californian William S. Rice (1873–1963) that I recently discovered as the artwork for a calendar we bought. I say "Western" because they're quite different in their light, especially in the amount of black ink used in the Key block, from classic ukiyo-e woodblock prints by Japanese masters such as Hokusai.

It's the illumination in them that really grabs me – the brightness of the light – that you can't really get with traditional watercolour. These are drawn, painted roughly with flat watercolour, then overpainted with sumi (Japanese ink) in a way that more or less duplicates the block-printing process. I'm not a printer anymore – I'm happy just to paint originals and sell them rather than trying to edition and sell prints.

These are for sale, of course. Use the "Contact Me" link above for prices, etc.