Montagne de Tabe

wood plate carving

printing the first block

printing the red seal on the final print

 Moku Hanga woodblock print. Sumi ink on Awagami Shiramine paper.
This print is inspired from the following sketch done at the break of day in the Pyrenees.

MI-LAB Moku Hanga Training Program

Ko Umi Park
小海公園

The Mokuhanga Innovation Laboratory (MI-LAB) Studio is located on the banks of the Kawaguchi Lake. It hosts several times a year Moku hanga training programs for foreign artists.

MI-Lab Kawaguchiko Studio

I attended to the fall session from October 27th to November 30th 2019 with five other artists. The residency is ideally situated at the foot of Mount Fuji in a traditional Japanese land house.

Fuji San 富士山

Our studious days were punctuated by the sound of the primary school bell, the call of our house keeper Sato San for lunchtime and the fleeting apparitions of Fuji San between the clouds.

Katsuyama middle school students - 勝山中学生

Our teachers were very talented and, whilst teaching us the basics of Moku hanga, they opened doors to infinite fields of graphic experimentation.

The neighbourhood of MI-Lab - 勝山

 Every day we had delicious lunch and dinner from the local catering Samurai

体験食館 侍

Moku Hanga woodblock printing 木版画

 The five weeks of the program passed so quickly. I only made four prints…

富士山

…and didn't even have the time to paint my own thirty-six views of Mount Fuji.

Rencontre des Peintres Montagnards en Dauphiné

Tous les ans au mois de janvier, se tient à Valence la Rencontre des Peintres Montagnards en Dauphiné organisée par le Comité local du Club Alpin. L'exposition, qui prend place cette année encore dans la magnifique salle des Clercs, commence le 19 janvier et s'achève le 3 février. J'y exposerai dans la section "carnettistes" mes derniers croquis en montagne (Dolomites, Pyrénées…)

Dolomites, Italie

Derborence, Suisse

Pico Anayet, Espagne

Orlu, Ariège

et quelques nouvelles estampes comme celle ci-dessous. J'aurai le plaisir d'être présent au vernissage samedi 19 et le lendemain toute la journée. Au plaisir de vous y rencontrer.

Moiry

La dernière estampe en date, inspirée d'un croquis du Lac de Moiry dans le Valais, consacre la majestueuse Dent Blanche et ses 4357m.
The last print, inspired by a sketch from the swiss Alps, shows a dam lake surrounded by snowy summits, the larches wearing their autum coat. This print is only 3 blocks.

 The famous turquoise hue of the Moiry lake.

 Plates are moistened with a large goat hair spalter.

The second plate, a blue "bokashi" (gradient), settles the space in the picture.

 

The third block, brightly colored, brings warmness and depth in this ice blue landscape.

Ecrins

The mountains range is "le massif des Ecrins" in the french Alps.
These peaks approaching 4000m are, from left to right, Aile Froide, Coup de Sabre, Pic Sans Nom, Pelvoux.

This woodprint is an adaptation of this sketch done during a hike to "la tête des raisins", Vallée de Dormillouse (Hautes-Alpes), with fellow mountain sketchers.

Mountain rock walls carved on wood plate look like a bas-relief

 The ground color, printed as the first block, is made of natural Raw and Burnt Sienna pigments.

 The little opacity of pigments suits well to the ground

The blue sky, shaded snow and background slopes are added as a second block of watercolor.

 The third and last block is a mix of indian ink and watercolor.

Zinalrothorn

Zinaltrothorn 4221m high (13,848 ft) means in german "red peak of Zinal village".

It's one of the high summits that separate the Matter valley and the Val d'Anniviers in the Swiss province of Valais.

During my last stay in Val d'Anniviers at mid october, this elegant profile was overhanging the valley and my home at any hour of the day, offering its shoulder (usual name of the snow ridge leading to the top) to the low sun rays of autumn. This new print is inspired by several sketches I did from this monument, especially the one above.

Adobe Photoshop is the perfect tool to separate the colors and imagine less blocks to carve. It allows also to make a preview of the paper texture and the woodblock apect.

The outlines are reported on the plates,

and the blocks must be carved carefully.

The tools are set on the table, ready to start

 The first block is the gradient of the sky

 The rocks are printed at second

Here are the first two blocks

 the blue shade

the final print

Couronne impériale

la couronne impériale

 La couronne impériale est le nom donné aux sommets de 4000m qui ferment l'horizon du Val d'Anniviers dans le Valais, en Suisse.

Ce croquis réalisé sur le vif a donné naissance à une gravure sur bois en 4 blocs selon le procédé japonais ancestral d'estampe sur bois "Moku Hanga".

impression du 3ème bloc

Correction de la gravure pendant le tirage du dernier bloc

The 'imperial crown' is the name given to the 4000m high summits of the swiss Valais. This woodblock print is inspired by a sketch done on location at the first days of the year.

 le tirage terminé

Woodblock Carving

Ah, quel plaisir de graver des plaques !

The fun of Woodblock Carving

Etang du Village

Cette vue de l'étang du village de Marlieux, depuis la chaussée, est la première image que j'ai peinte sur le vif. Cela devait être en 1985. J'y avais représenté la maçonnerie du thou (vanne de vidange) qui servait de plongeoir. Avec ou sans le thou, je l'ai dessiné et redessiné depuis.
This pond was my favourite place for swimming when I was a child. It is also the object of my first plein-air painting when I was fifteen. Since that time I've done many drawings from this place.

Le dernier croquis date du 24 juillet 2011. Trois ans plus tard j'adapte ce croquis en gravure sur bois.
I took the last sketch I did three years ago to create my last woodblock print. 

Après avoir déterminé le nombre de blocs et le choix des couleurs, je m'empresse de graver les quatre plaques de tilleul.
After the technical step of the synthesis to determine the number of woodblocks and the colors. I feel impatient to do the plywood plate carving.  

Dès le premier bloc, toute l'attention se concentre sur la qualité des aplats et des dégradés.
The main goal is to get flat colors and fine gradients.

Trois des quatre blocs portent des dégradés.
Three of the four blocks are gradients of light tints.

Pendant le tirage, je contrôle la fidélité des tirages avec la maquette.
During the printing process I keep an eye on my screen to control the fidelity of the colors.

Le bloc bleu du ciel et de l'eau se révèle le plus délicat à imprimer car il est extrêmement difficile d'obtenir les mêmes valeurs d'une feuille à l'autre.

The water and sky block is really the most difficult step of the print. It is so hard to get twice the same shade of blue.

Cette estampe est la plus grande que j'ai réalisée à ce jour : 315mm x 375mm. Le petit tirage de 18 exemplaires m'a permis de progresser sur certains aspects du tirage.
This is the largest print I've ever done :  315 x 375 mm. This limited edition of eighteen taught me many things about the Moku Hanga technique.