The day we took Mark to his return flight home, we went into see the show at SAM [Seattle Art Museum] of Hokusai wood block prints which will close within days. It is quite comprehensive, including work by his students & followers as well as current referential pieces. There was a lot to observe & study! It was exhausting. But still worth adding more to our deficit of needed recuperation from several previous days of "Silha Scheduling".
I have long been an admirer of the medium involving drawing the dramatic compositions before skillfully cutting of the wood blocks before carefully shaded the ink to create the subtle coloration of the print. A veritable symphonic dance of techniques.
I explored a number of print making techniques in high school, mostly serigraphs (silk screen prints) but also linoleum-block prints, which are the same basic process as Hokusai's wood block prints. It is a "cameo" process where ink is rolled onto the upper surface of the block which touches the paper & transfers that ink to the paper in the pattern on the block. A separate block must be carved for each color the design requires. The sheer number of blocks which had to be carved to produce the prints in this exhibit becomes mind boggling!
I'm certainly leased we got to spend tie with this master!