……..or HNYIRR as it is also known. A print that makes me smile because it is just a little gloomy and deadpan. The car interior that frames the view is my beloved MX5, perhaps soon to be traded in for an electric bike, but it is so hard to let go. After a disastrous and rain soaked outing to the Chinese New Year celebrations everything seemed to align for this print: even the car is Japanese, connecting rather well with the Hiroshige views.
The method is reduction linocut and monotype. Unusually there is no engraving, so the print is a bit less detailed than others. It works though because of the atmospheric qualities of monoprinting, which capture the low visibility of the day. A slight disclaimer here, you will notice the speedo reads 0 mph. I was stuck there for quite a while, my hopes of gathering ideas from the Chinese New Year festivities dashed by the weather. The preliminary work was done in the queue, a few quick snaps and a pencil study. Meanwhile, nobody moved.
The impromptu nature of the view lends it something that perhaps the more planned and less spontaneous views don’t have.