Posted by Dave Bull at 3:10 AM, July 20, 2010
Well, I didn't think it would take too long for somebody to identify this print, but I didn't think anybody would get it on the first day!
All I posted was this small image:
But that was enough for Gary Luedtke, who took that hint, then watched over my shoulder for a few minutes on the Webcam, and came up with the correct answer - a Hasui image of Mt. Unzen, created in 1927 (I'll show you below).
Here is some carving progress since then:
And here is where I left the Webcam last night:
I don't own my own copy of the Hasui original ...
... and am working from a number of images from here and there on the 'net. About the clearest one I found is this:
That's not much to go on for making a reproduction, but in this case, it's OK. Because my print will be only about 1/2 the size of the original (in linear dimensions) a lot of the detail will be missed anyway. I have re-drawn the whole thing, working at 200% in Photoshop, drawing lines that 'make sense' at the target scale.
It's the printing that will make or break this one, and that sample really doesn't show the design at its best - the colours are awful, and the registration is off.
Here's a better one I found somewhere:
So when my own printing begins, I'll have quite a lot of latitude ...
(Congratulations to Gary! The rest of you will have another chance, when carving on the other image of the pair begins soon. And nobody is going to get that one on the first day!
