Bell Tower at Mt. Kôya 1935

Hasui Kawase made this print of a bell tower at Mt. Kôya with what looks like wood blocks. I love imagining the whole dance of the making—the back and forth, push and pull of material and vision. Imagine Kawase in the thick of it: the flakes are falling and the whole scene, the tower and trees, is being covered, dusted in white. I wonder what it must have been like to carve the wood, committing the shapes to the block! Look closely and you can see the marks where the artist has laid down each patch of colour, one on top of the other. It looks painstaking, but somehow they evoke a feeling that's very human and fragile. You know, artists are always in conversation with each other, even across time. We painters continue to ask, what can paint do? What can an image do? I hope you can find a place for it in your own work.