2025/06/18 15:59
For all hand made print lovers,
I still have difficulty signing. To begin with, I am not particularly good at writing beautiful letters. Of course, I have my own favorite fonts and writing styles. But writing the alphabet, Japanese, or kanji makes me nervous. This is true not only when I sign my works, but also when I am at the counter of a city hall or a bank. "Calm down a bit and write letters that are more like you." My wife sighs as she looks at my messy signing. Anyway, let's study the signatures of various artists. For some time now, I have been gazing at the "signs" at various exhibition venues. Indeed, I have come to understand that signatures are composed of a wide variety of lines and curves, just as each person's face is different. Recently, I may be spending more time looking at other people's signatures than at their artworks.
As for writing implements, I have finally been able to draw relatively steadily with a 2B pencil. 3B and 5B were too soft for me. I practice drawing a few times before signing the print. But it reminds me of a penalty kick in soccer. I hope I can "draw" comfortably, but sometimes I feel like I miss the "goal". No one may be happy with my work if the signature is like this! Sometimes I am not satisfied with it and I prepare the ink and press again. At some point, I finally got a hang of something. It's not about drawing well, but about drawing happily and in a balanced way. I still haven't decided on the shape of my signature, and I'm still searching for the best way to draw it. But I like my signature. It's the final touch to a work, in a sense. There's a saying in ancient China. "画龍点睛" It says that the last thing you add when drawing a dragon is the "dragon's eyes." The signature is, so to speak, the "eyes" of the work.
Yoshio Press
A work by a Japanese printmaker whom I love,,,
