Paul Binnie

Scottish, b. 1967

Sunburst
(Kobo)

a reduction print, with artist's red circular seal at lower left, BINNIE, numbered, titled and signed in pencil on the lower margin, 26/40, Kobo, Paul Binnie, ca. June 2016

25 3/8 by 12 3/8 in., 64.5 by 31.3 cm

This composition was produced by reduction woodblock printing, a process that Binnie has recently embraced for his landscape prints allowing him to achieve atmospheric results utilizing a more limited palette than his comparatively complex bijin prints. The process begins with one block, printing the areas of the palest portion of the design, then continuing to carve away to leave the lighter areas in the print working towards the darkest area. The blocks are destroyed in the printing process, and as such, there will never be additional or variant impressions.

The view is of wide shafts of light bursting through a curtain of ominous dark clouds to illuminate the granite outcropping of Hay Tor on Dartmoor in the High Moorlands of England. Gomazuri (sesame seed printing) in yellow ochre and violet is used to render the rough texture of the rocks, and layers of grey over light blue baren sujizuri swirls add depth to the heavy clouds. Binnie defines some of the shafts of light with blue edges, an effect observed in nature.

price: $700