Final thoughts of the month
Written 04/06/2025
This month was... exhausting. And yet I didn't even do any art for about half of it! (Or at least not THIS project anyway, I do other art stuff too!)
I do think I really got myself into a tizzy about the woodblock printing stuff and even though at first I was just like 'oh I'll just focus on the style' I then (after doing more research) convinced myself that it was REALLY integral to the experience so I NEEDED to incorporate it into my final piece. But that meant I needed to BUY the woodblocks and the carving tools and I DO NOT have tons of money to spare so I was frantically looking up where I could get them for a relatively cheap price and I had to find tutorials which was way harder than expected (I know I don't speak Japanese, but I thought there was a great Western interest in Japanese art). So I feel like I kind of just fumbled around for a while and just feeling more and more stuck and worrying about wasting the wood I was using so I didn't really let myself experiment with it as much as possible. And honestly maybe I should have just stuck to my original idea of using the style and not worrying so much about the exact medium.
But for all that, I DO have a much better understanding and appreciation for the ukiyo-e style of art and the craftmanship that goes into these woodblocks (and the benefits of it from a mass production lens). It's why lots of Early Modern art prints have all those lines (it's a similar idea those those printers were metal), which is not something I thought about much before this month. So from a LEARNING experience I think this really did help me and I will try to take these lessons going forward. Learn about the medium and try to understand it (that does often come with practise tbf) but also be reasonable, I'm doing this for MYSELF to look back on and not some imaginary critic who will eat me alive for making mistakes (this is easier said than done to be honest).
Mainly just because I wasn't sure where else to put this, but I took a picture of my draft piece with my final piece and I liked seeing the difference (but also how important HAVING that draft it for the final piece - something I already knew but SEEING it hit home more)
You can see the more congruent colour scheme and general 'smoothness' (though I think the blossom is better positioned in the draft...)
In conclusion, while I didn't have the best time this month I do feel like I will try to learn from my mistakes but also not to bog myself down in them either :) (Be kind and all that)