Self Portrait

Another mostly failed attempt to realize a full-color woodcut. The source was a water-color self portrait I painted a few years ago. The reduction print was carved from three blocks in various reductions. A ‘yellow’ block was carved and printed three times, a ‘blue’ block was carved and printed four times, and a ‘red’ block was carved and printed five times. So a total of twelve blocks were printed on 44 sheets of Yamaguchi hosho paper.

So how many individual colors can be printed (not considering gradations or variations in color on any single block)? Let’s see:

• 1 blank paper
• 3 yellows
• 5 reds
• 15 red-yellows
• 4 blues
• 12 blue-yellows
• 20 blue-reds
• 60 blue-reds-yellows
• ===
• 120 different colors at most from the 12-reduction printings of 3 blocks
• (4096 different colors at most from 12 different blocks not reduced)

self-portrait, January 15, 2004, 15 x 10 inches, woodblock print - 3 block 12-state reduction, Prussian Blue, Primary Red, Transparent Yellow on Yamaguchi hosho , 44 sheets printed

self-portrait, July, 2000, 11 x 8.5 inches, watercolors on paper

state 3 (pale red, yellow, blue), and state 2 (pale red and yellow)