Exploration and Direction

2026 has carried on from 2025 being quite a reflective and transformative year for me. As I explore Japanese Woodblock Printing more I am determined this is what I want to do with my life, how I want to express myself artistically and how I fill my days. There is always something to learn, but also the community it has brought with it is a inspirational one. I can see my designs shifting, my mind shifting and how I view myself. 
It all sounds a bit deep I know, but I feel a bit stuck between two worlds at the moment. I am a maker - who wants to make creativity her full time job - if that is selling in shops, markets or teaching. But I am also becoming an artist, I know some may say I already was, but I never viewed myself as such. In my head, these two personas come at different price points - I will start to show my Mokuhanga work in exhibitions, I am investing a lot of money in the learning of the art, the tools, the materials and actually that's going to mean I can't keep a low price on my works. 

I have always wanted my art to be accessible to all people so I am starting to see myself divide into two groups. 

Risograph - for my cards, for fun prints created by brush and scanned in, making it faster to produce and be at a cheaper price point. The imagery found here will be my own expressions of course, perhaps a little less experimental than what you may see in my Mokuhanga pieces. 

Then there will be Mokuhanga - my only form of printmaking (I think I will step away from lino, although I am sure, not completely). Mokuhanga works best when you use the best materials, not only that but one print can take about a month from start to finish, so these will see higher price points. I think this way I can juggle both voices and satisfy all the ideas which rattle around inside my brain.

As always I will keep the planet a part of the process - thinking about the environment at every step. I also am a vegan, but some materials or process' used in Mokuhanga aren't - whilst I learn and juggle the decision of the use of an animal vs the impact on the environment (glues!) I won't be perfect, but I'll get there. Mokuhanga has certainly taught me one thing - and that is patience. I'll do my best at every step. 

This reflection and growth is a part of every small business' decision process. We want to earn through our art form, so how can we do this in the modern world? With "brands" having brand identities, why do creatives have to say the same? We shouldn't have too - part of our love of art comes from exploration, that may even be the core of it. So why should our creative business have only one path? Hmm... like I said, lots of thoughts are rattling around.

I'll leave it at that for now. I hope to come back soon with other thoughts, change of website, better social media presence... hopefully my thoughts come to fruition! 

Speak to you soon x