Strolling Bird 1935

This print of a bird was made by Unichi Hiratsuka, though I'm not sure when. You can see the way the image is built through cutting the wood, so it's all about the line, and then the areas of colour laid in. I like to think about the artist with the block of wood, carefully carving to create this scene. What was he thinking about when he was making this print? Did he encounter this bird on one of his strolls? He takes that memory of the bird and then reduces it into a few simple shapes to be able to express the essential. There’s something very satisfying in the limitations of that, the carving and the lines. He's working within a tradition but also playing with it, taking it somewhere new. It makes me think about what I'm going to do in my studio today...