Anchovies Gyotaku

Anchovies GyotakuOne of my first prints in coloured sumi ink that I bought in Japan recently. It's also one of my first ever anchovy prints. These tiny fish are useful to fishermen for bait and that's exactly how I came by mine. I got chatting to a client who bought three pieces of work from me and turned out she owns our local tackle and bait shop. She said I should call in and so I did and picked up these little fish. The print is on Chinese Xuan paper and

I try and do more than one so that I'm always guaranteed that one of them will make it though the whole process of printing and wet mounting

April 18th was Easter Monday

No two prints are ever the same in Gyotaku as the specimen is re inked before each print is taken

This would make a lovely addition to any coastal home

The black and gold palette enhances the texture and form of the leaves

While the piece can be framed under a mount

The print is blue and red

this piece uses only light fast

This one is on Thai Mulberry paper which has been mounted onto Japanese Mulberry and then Japanese Masa Paper

Here the shell has been printed on Chinese Xuan paper using a high quality acrylic ink that is permanent and light fast

I'm fascinated by some of the projects based around shellfish and how they are foundational in us having a good ocean environment

After the printing is done the eyes were hand painted on