One of our favorite Austin holiday traditions is the Armadillo Bazaar.

If you haven't been,  please do yourself a favor and get there this December. The Bazaar provides a celebratory atmosphere to shop for one-of-a-kind artisan holiday gifts while listening to live music and enjoying cocktails...what could be more Austin than that!

Each year we are bound to find a few things we can't live without (oops, I meant give away as gifts!)   But of all artists that exhibit we have fallen in love with the fine art of Daryl Howard, one of the only traditional Japanese Woodblock printmakers in the US.

Japanese wood block printing dates back to the 7th century. Daryl's technique of woodblock printing is the traditional Japanese method which she studied in Tokyo, Japan under Master Hodaka Yoshida. The process begins with a traditional drawing and then each color layer is separated and carved into woodblocks. Watercolor and rice paste are applied with a Japanese brush to the wood. A dampened piece of handmade mulberry “Kizuki” paper, only made in Japan, is placed on the block and pressed, transferring the color to the paper. The precise hand-registration of the paper to each block must be repeated many times throughout the creation of one print to layer each different color. Daryl’s signature touch is adding 22K gold, silver, or copper leaf to perfectly accent the print.

Daryl has carefully and painstakingly updated woodblock printmaking for the modern times.  Not only in her subject matter but in the techniques she now employs and the tools she uses.

She exhibits her work in several galleries including the Ronin Gallery in Manhattan and shows at several art shows across the U.S.

Daryl works out of her 50 acre ranch home and studio near Nutty Brown Road in Austin, TX.  She and her husband Owen share these serene acres where cows roam near a cool creek.  She also has a hexagonal exhibit space called "The Waters Edge" down by the creek where she holds client appreciation events benefiting the cancer society twice a year.  The pictures above were from her most recent event.

The beauty of her art stops me in my tracks many times as I walk through our house. Check out her art on-line at darylhoward.com.  This is a video where she explains her technique.