I bought a beautiful ink block when I was last in Japan. It was so beautiful that I struggled to justify the use of it. It felt too special to use for ‘play’. I felt like I needed to use it for an important project or none at all. So, over the last 3 years, I’ve only used it twice; when the guilt of not using finally got the better of me and, in my weak moment, found myself thinking that perhaps it was more wasteful to not use it.
What’s interesting about the times I’ve used that ink stone is that I end up drawing things I don’t typically draw: organic objects like fruits, animals, vegetables, and people. Why is that?
Perhaps it’s the reverence I have for the people, energy and process that went into making that ink stick in the first place? The origin of the soot, the oil, the wax and time, the life that people have devoted to making these things so I can create something of beauty. All that went into this ink stick was living, so perhaps from living material comes living drawings?
I don’t get this feeling from using my synthetically and mass-produced watercolours. The work is also decidely different. Materials matter.