GYOTAKU – Now Anybody can have Original Artwork at Home

[Capt Ahab]

I have a couple that a local Philadelphia Artist did in exchange for me providing him some fish.

The Mahi Mahi one is huge but outstanding!

[Alto Mare]

I'm enjoying this thread, thanks guys. Steve, I just realized the stamp has your name, I'm guessing the artist makes his own?

Capt Ahab, post some pics if you can, I would love to see them and I'm sure so would everyone else.

[Tiddlerbasher]

x2 I'd like to see 'em

[Normslanding]

INSPIRING!

[Steve-O]

X3!  Would love to see a pic of the Mahi prints.

You can see the variety of sizes I catch. From 5" Bluegill up to who knows how big. I hope to print some Halibut tails in September as well as other species before I fillet them.  The dollar is for scale = 6.125"

Yeah, I thought a seal better than 'gyo + taku' kanji is in order. My name in kanji looks dumb so I went for a stylized grafitti look of SteveO. Maybe one more chunk of soapstone to get it more acceptaple before I have some folks in China do it for me via ebay.

[LLCC]

Here's an interesting fish that I have yet to get an ID of other than knowing it belongs to the group of fishes called Wrasses and Tuskfishes. We got it at Pulau Besar off the East Coast of Peninsula Malaysia on James Chai's boat. When it first came on board, it was a pale colour with yellow spots and rosy blotches at its flanks, transparent dorsal fin, green eyes rimmed with yellow, yellow yellow cheeks and turquoise coloured teeth.

After it's brain dead, it changed to a rust colour with yellow spots along its flanks, black eyes with matcha-coloured socket and the teeth turned white. After freezing, it stayed this colour. What is interesting is that it appear to have two rows of lateral lines, half at the top, in line with the eye until above the anal fin, and another below, from the middle of the caudal peduncle to where the top lateral line ends.

Here's how I drew in the eye.

https://gaspinggurami.wordpress.com/2015/08/14/gyotaku-the-eye-make-it-come-alive/

[Newell Nut]

Nicely done. Those are some neat colors on that fish and would look nice on a shirt.

[whalebreath]

Outstanding job Lawrence-never seen anything like it anywhere.

[Steve-O]

Cheilinus chlorusus....common name... Yellow dotted Maori wrasse.

Interesting how quickly and dramatically it color changed. Similarly, the Mahi Mahi and marlin lose their vibrance almost instantly and right before your eyes upon expiring.

Mr. Lee, the eye painting technique is very skilled and educating to me. Thanks, for sharing.

Steve

PS - and thanks to your blog I am now making oshizushi and enjoying the speed and ease of it. In fact my rice has come out much better thanks to you. The vinegar recipe is excellent.

[LLCC]

Cheilinus chlorusus....common name... Yellow dotted Maori wrasse.

Interesting how quickly and dramatically it color changed. Similarly, the Mahi Mahi and marlin lose their vibrance almost instantly and right before your eyes upon expiring.

Mr. Lee, the eye painting technique is very skilled and educating to me. Thanks, for sharing.

Steve

PS - and thanks to your blog I am now making oshizushi and enjoying the speed and ease of it. In fact my rice has come out much better thanks to you. The vinegar recipe is excellent.

A million thanks Steve-San! Your ID was spot on! Now I can work on touching up what I've missed — the long trailers on the Pelvic fins and the Lyre Tail which I was suspecting that to be as I had a shrivelled piece of skin at the two tips of the tail.

I'm glad you liked the taste of the sushi vinegar. I made it stronger (more salt and sugar) in taste as I wanted the rice to balance the Smoked Salmon. Also I wanted everything to be able to last long enough for the party/picnic without having to resort to refrigeration. If you are making Oshizushi with an ingredient that is plain (eg boiled crab, or grilled beef), you can use less sugar and/or salt with the vinegar so it won't overpower the ingredient. Likewise, if you are making ordinary sushi with raw fish, you can cut down on the sugar by half so it won't distract the subtle taste of the fish.

Best,

LL

[Lowprofile]

an original Japanese piece. done here in Okinawa.

[Steve-O]

Lowprofile -Super good job of capturing the Yellowfin in gyotaku!  170cm comes out to a 5 foot 6 and a half inch fish for us Yanks.



LL- You're very welcome for the fish ID. i recognized it as a Wrasse right away but there are only a few which I know as the more familiar ones like the cleaners and Humphead, etc.  The Wrasse family are among the most beautiful of the tropicals.

Regarding Osizushi: I have used Smoked Salmon (self caught and smoked) and Poor Man's Lobster Recipe Halibut in my oshizushi thus far and modified the vinegar recipe to taste each time. Always less salt for me since it is used in cooking the fish and I don't care for salt anyway. Plus even low sodium soy sauce is too salty for my tastes and I use it sparingly.

Fishing - your blog's micro jigging section was also intriguing so while learning more about that and the Japanese style of fast and slow pitch jigging, decided to give it a try next month in Alaska with a newly purchased Major Craft CROSTAGE Light Jigging Rod, #CRJ-S64SLJ.

So it my turn to reply with 'thanks a million', Sensei Lawrence-san!

best fishes,
Steve

[Steve-O]

Here's a recent fish print effort.

This is a White Amur aka Grass Carp.

38 inches and 27 pounds.  Not the biggest I've caught but a decent one. The largest capture so far is 40 inches and 34#..but no prints from that one.

My youngest daughter and I pulled a few prints in the garage on a folding table and this was good enough, IMO, to have dry mounted on foam core board.

It now hangs on my office wall and measures 27 X 52 inches.

My progress on achieving  good eyes is slowing getting there.

The dollar bill is for scale.

[mo65]

I've been enlightened again...cool stuff!

[thorhammer]

this is  a great thread, nice work all! Not sure about the blog, but Mr.Lee, can you share this method of food preparation in the AT food forum?


thanks!

John