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Tom Kristensen

Seagulls
copyright Tom Kristensen, 2005

Tom Kristensen, born 1962, is a young artist from Australia who works in the tradition of Japanese woodblock printmaking. On this page, he writes about his latest print from the series "36 Views of Green Island ".

Here is the original text written by Tom Kristensen. Text and images are copyright protected and may not be used or distributed for other than private use without the prior consignment of the author/artist.

36 Views of Green Island

"These 36 views are presented in the Sosaku Hanga tradition: self-carved and hand printed, using Japanese tools, Japanese mulberry washi and traditional pigment colours. Each print is made from 4 to 6 blocks and printed in an edition of 25 copies."

Seagulls - No. 17

The Silver Gull, Larus novaehollandiae, is found throughout Australia, but is most common on the southern coastline. They are found in large numbers wherever food is plentiful. The gulls gather in noisy flocks on the sea, and pick over the flotsam on the seashore. They are equally busy at the garbage tip or following the fishing boats.

Silver Gulls are scavengers and kleptoparasites, meaning they are happy to try to steal food that they are unable to catch by themselves. They are often seen fighting over food, not only among their own kind but also with other species. They are well adapted to life with Homo sapiens. When the weather is rough they come in to shelter on the lakes, and parks. At sporting events the gulls gather on the green. Gulls are also common on airfields, where they are a serious hazard to aviation. Gulls can also interfere with boats, redecorating moored yachts as suitable nesting sites. The breeding pairs may produce two clutches of hatchlings in a single season. The young are able to leave the nest within two days of hatching and begin begging food from their parents. The begging behaviour continues into adulthood, with nesting females begging food from their mates. The males that are best able to deliver food are most likely to maintain a pairing through to the following mating season.

In this print I have tried to reproduce the colour of the scarlet legs, bill and eye ring of the adult birds. In the young birds these parts are black then turn yellow brown; the red colour develops with maturity. There is little to distinguish the male Silver Gull from the female, but the red colour separates the immature males from the breadwinners.

Tom Kristensen
August 2005

More about Tom Kristensen

The artist was first discovered by Eric van den Ing, co-author of a classic ukiyo-e book "Beauty and Violence" and owner of Saru Gallery. After Eric van den Ing had placed Tom's woodblock prints on his online gallery, a few days later a collector had bought the whole set. Mr. van den Ing seems to have a "magic hand" for new artists. He was the first to introduce Paul Binnie in 2000 to a larger online community of friends of Japanese prints.

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