Printmaking Process | Koho Shoda inspired prints
I have recently finished printing two new editions of a print that comes in two colourways. This print has been one I have had in mind for a while now, and between collaging, printing other editions etc. I’ve slowly been taking the photographs I needed to create it. I thought I’d share the printmaking process, from the inspirations and collaging to the finished screenprints pictured below.
Canal by Moonlight by Koho Shoda
Canal by the Moonlight by Koho Shoda
A Country Scene by Moonlight by Koho Shoda
Dusk by Koho Shoda
Above is the original print by Koho Shoda (1871-1946) that inspired me to create River by Moonlight and River by Dawn (after Koho Shoda). It’s one of my favourite woodblock prints from the Shin-hanga (New prints) movement. His prints were published by Nishinomiya Yosaku - the process was a collaborative effort between the artist (hanga-ka), carver (hori-shi), printer (suri-shi) and publisher. Surprisingly, despite my best efforts trying to research him, there isn’t actually that much information about Koho Shoda, and I have seen the print titled a number of ways, which include those above.
I took a trip to Cuckmere Haven in East Sussex to get some pictures of the River Cuckmere, which flows into the English Channel, overlooked by the Seven Sisters chalk cliffs in the South Downs - Having been a few times before, I knew it would be the perfect place with the meandering river.
I chose to use the top left photo above as the starting point for my collage, which I then combined with other photographs I had taken in the Brighton and East Sussex area. I use Adobe Photoshop to create my collages and they usually take quite a lot of time to create and go through many changes before reaching the final composition. Sometimes I will leave the image in colour to work with as it’s easier to see for erasing bits out etc. and others I will turn the images to black and white. If I don’t, it always gets turned to grayscale at the end so that I can bitmap and halftone the image for screenprinting - pictured here in the last image. This means the image is turned into lots of dots of various sizes and tones of grey - from a distance to the human eye, the image looks smooth.
The halftoned image is then printed on a transparency such as acetate, and I coat a screen in light sensitive emulsion, allowing it to dry in a dark place before exposing the image on the screen under UV light. Here I have exposed 3 layers for the print - a rectangle for the background, a circle for the moon, and the collaged image. Once exposed, I then washed the screen to remove any unexposed emulsion, leaving the image on the screen to be printed. The black parts of the image block out the light, meaning that the emulsion didn’t harden on the darker parts of the image.
With my work, I’m inspired by the changing seasons and times of day, which is one of the reasons I was drawn to Koho Shoda’s print; the atmosphere created in his canal scene by the simple use of colours. For my prints, I like to create an otherworldly feel to them, so I don’t use realistic colours for certain elements. Instead I choose to use a soft, muted colour palette to help create a serene atmosphere.
Once my screen was set up on the print bed and all taped off, I mixed pinks, blues and creams with screenprinting medium, which I used to create a colour blend for the effect of the sky changing colours at different times of day. Because of the nature of printing a colour blend, each print is slightly different making it a variable edition. After printing the background, I next printed the moon on River by Moonlight (after Koho Shoda) and then finished the screenprints with a graphite powder and ink layer of the main collaged image.
I’m really pleased with the finished limited edition prints and the mood created from the subdued colours; an ambient light of the night, moon and dawn skies reflecting on the surrounding landscape and curve of the river, with the silhouettes of the trees adding to the quiet and stillness of the scene.
I hope you enjoyed this insight into the creation of River by Moonlight (after Koho Shoda) and River by Dawn (after Koho Shoda) - Click to see some more images of the variable editions.
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