Printmaking is fraught with rhythms and cycles. This is most evident in woodcut printing and is the reason behind the medium's attraction for me. Unlike others who use printmaking principally as a means of producing multiples of an image, I approach it as an actual way of thinking. Due to this, my editions are very small and comprised of prints that reflect the total process of communication between my ideas and their portrayal as images. The wood I use is white pine and my carving tools consist of two Japanese tools (a small u-gauge and a small v-gauge) and a larger German u-gauge. The images are drawn on the wood using markers and brushes with Chinese calligraphy ink. I never do preliminary sketches but prefer to work directly on the wood. Once drawn, the image is cut on one side which will print the black, and then transferred to the reverse side of the board which becomes the color block. I use a reduction method to print the colors proceeding from the color occupying the greatest area through to the smallest. Once all the colors are printed by successively carving out each area, the reverse side is printed forming the black sections of the image. This block is referred to as the key block because it opens up all the chaotic areas of color into an image. Using this process achieves three things; firstly, the edition is unique and cannot be reproduced because the block is destroyed in the process of printing the colors; secondly, the ink develops different textures by being built upon itself in layers; and thirdly, wood and space aren't wasted by cutting separate blocks for each color. I owe much gratitude to Dan Miller, my teacher of this art, not just for it's use as a means of expression, but for it's meditative quality. To make a woodcut, especially a large one, forces you into periods of time where you must concentrate on the materials as well as your movements. Too much force can cut away part of the image and too hard a twist or too deep a cut can break a tool. Such concentration quiets the mind and allows for moments in which your senses and thoughts can re-gather.