A Mokuhanga (Japanese water based woodblock print) print hand printed with a baren on 64 gsm Japanese Pansion kozo washi with cut edges float mounted on white conservation board with kozo hinges.
Edition size: 14 plus 2 artist’s proof
Image size: 148 x 99 mm
Paper size: 160 x 115 mm approx
Mount: 300 x 210 mm
Price: £60
This traditional Japanese water based wood block print was created with two blocks, three colours, nori (rice starch paste) and 5 passes of pigment.
In 2022 we spent two weeks in Orkney during a sailing trip, circumnavigating the UK. The coastal path from Stromness to Warebeth Beach looks out over the Sound of Hoy towards the Coolags, the hills at the northern end of the Island of Hoy. It is a place and a view that has inspired many artists in the past, including Wilhelmina Barnes Graham and Sylvia Wishart, as well as local artist Laura Drever, whose wonderful ‘pointillist’ paintings of the Orkneys I discovered at the Pier Arts Centre.
During our stay we visited Maeshowe Chambered Cairn, built some 5000 years ago, which was aligned to capture the rays of the setting sun about six weeks before and after the winter solstice. The sun sets over the hills of the Cuilags (in the valley to the north of Ward Hill) on the Isle of Hoy, casting the last of its rays across the main land, to strike the rear interior wall of the Cairn. The Sound itself can be wild and desolate, with a ferocious tidal current and standing waves. Standing on Warebeth Beach you can feel the tremendous unstoppable power of nature, but in calm weather, under expansive skies full of light, the Sound is like a vast light reflecting mirror, contrasting strongly with the dark silhouette of the Cuilags. It is this view, during the winter solstice, which has inspired this print.
I cut the blocks and prepared proofs under the expert guidance of Lucy May Schofield at Spike Print Studios Bristol in January 2023. Having spent time since then working on other prints I returned to this later in the year and worked on the blocks to include a slight ripple for the suns reflection before finally editioning the print.
Kay A Brown 