Ray Heus

New England painter and printmaker

Two new Black and White Woodblocks for 2008

Beach, Abaco $175 Framed $145 Unframed Image Size 4.25 x 6.75 Framed Size 15 x 13 Woodblock, edition of 40	Spruces and Snow $165 Framed $135 Unframed Image Size Framed Size 12 x 14 Woodblock, edition of 40
$650 Framed $620 Unframed Evening Snow, Towne Cove Woodblock, edition of 25	$325 Framed $295 Unframed Half Moon, Cane Bay Woodblock, edition of 25

"Canoe Yawl Night"

$450 framed
$420 unframed

Image Size 71/2" x 51/4"
Framed Size 15 3/4" x 13 3/4"

Woodblock, edition of 10

"Three Women at Lunch"

$975 Framed

Watercolor
Image Size 5.75" x 7.75"

"Canoe"

$350 Framed
$320 Unframed

Image Size 7.25" x 5.25"
Framed Size 16 x 14

Aquatint, edition of 25

"Half Moon, Pleasant Bay" $355 framed $295 unframed Image Size 5 3/4" x 4 1/4" Framed Size 14 1/2" x 12 3/4" Woodblock, Edition of 30	"Dawn, St. Helena Island" $450 framed $420 unframed Image Size 5" x 7" Framed Size 13 3/4" x 15 3/4" Woodblock Edition of 25	"Evening Snow, Cape Cod" $355 framed $325 unframed Image Size 6" x 4 1/4" Framed Size 14 3/4" x 12 3/4" Woodblock, Edition of 30
"Canoe Yawl Moonlight" $450 framed $420 unframed Image Size 71/2" x 51/4" Framed Size 15 3/4" x 13 3/4" Woodblock, Edition of 10	"Evening, St. Helena Island" $450 framed $420 unframed Image Size 5" x 7" Framed Size 13 3/4" x 15 3/4" Woodblock Edition of 25	"Canoe Yawl Dusk" $450 framed $420 unframed Image Size 7 1/2" x 5 1/4" Framed Size 15 3/4" x 13 3/4" Woodblock, Edition of 30

Ray Heus is a New England painter and printmaker with over 30 years experience. Heus' work reveals his love for sailing and the water in his woodblocks of New England, Canadian coastal areas and the Carribbean.

Ray Heus was born in Oak Ridge, Tennessee and grew up on Long Island, in the Virgin Islands, and in western Massachusetts. A graduate of Cornell University, he also studied at the University of Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany and with Washington, D.C. artists Jo Harrop and Nancy Hirsch.

Heus work reveals the influence and his great admiration for 19^th and 20^th century Japanese master printmakers, especially Hiroshi and Toshi Yoshida and Kawase Hasui. Influences from western artists include Whistler, Homer, and the Canadian printmaker Walter Phillips. His primary medium is moku hanga, the traditional Japanese way of making color woodblock prints.

Over the years he has had numerous one-man shows and has exhibited at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond and in the Adirondacks National Exhibition of American Watercolors. In 2006 Heus produced a series of woodblocks for "Dusk to Dawn: A Nocturne Exhibit" at McBride Gallery in Annapolis, MD. Ray Heus' work is included in several public and numerous private collections. His work is in the collection of the Cape Cod Museum of Art.

After ten years in Rappahannock County, Virginia Ray Heus lives on Cape Cod, Massachusetts where he paints, prints, builds wooden boats, and sails.

Moku Hanga
Color Woodblock Prints Made in the Japanese Way

Over the course of three centuries the Japanese perfected the making of color prints by hand, culminating in the works of the masters Hokusai, Hiroshi and Toshi Yoshida, and Kawase Hasui. The technique is labor intensive, and the Japanese divided the labor between three different people: one who made the design, one who carved the blocks, and one who printed. In this country and at this time this is not practical, and the western printmaker must do all on his or her own.

First, a design is created, and the colors of the finished print are planned. This design is then drawn in outline on thin Japanese paper which in turn is pasted to a hardwood block. Wild Cherry is the preferred wood. This block is carved leaving only the outlines in relief, and notches for registration called kento are carved on the edge of the block which is now the ‘key’ or master block. From it are made as many outline prints as there are to be color blocks, each color requiring a separate block. These prints are in turn pasted to wood blocks, and each is then carved leaving only specific color areas in relief. The making of the kento is exactly and precisely repeated on these blocks, insuring simple and accurate registration. Printing may now begin. Premium quality hand-made Japanese paper (the only paper tough enough to survive the process) is then dampened, the level of dampness must be perfect and must be maintained throughout printing, and impressions are taken from the inked individual color blocks, one at a time, using a Japanese hand-made baren, or printing disk which fuses the ink with the paper, until the print is completed. The number of impressions is always greater than the number of color blocks due to desirable effects that can only be created by over-printing colors and gradation. It is possible to make an almost unlimited amount prints from a set of blocks, but in the West where the printmaker works alone throughout the process, editions are usually relatively small.