"Lilac" was inspired by the lilac bush that was in the yard of my childhood home. Its scent was always a welcome one as the weather grew warmer and the end of the school year drew near!
Mokuhanga (meaning "wood print") is a traditional Japanese printmaking technique which uses water-based pigments instead of the oil-based inks that are often used in Western style printmaking. The difference between the way that the water-based ink bleeds into and becomes one with the paper and the way that oil-based inks sit on top of the surface can give a lighter, more etherial feel to a print that I have long admired from afar. I was finally able to spend four weeks working under a mokuhanga teacher in Japan in the Fall of 2025. Whereas my linocut prints rely on linework, my mokuhanga prints can fully embrace essences and shapes and colors. I am so excited to share the bounty of my newly learned skills with you!
"Lilac", an A4 sized print, was made by carving each of the image's core structures into 6 blocks of shina (a type of plywood), applying pigment to the blocks, then printing by hand using traditional bamboo leaf sheathed barens. This print has 9 impressions, meaning that 3 of the blocks were used twice for each print. The yellow background, the darker green leaves, and the stem all utilized extra printing techniques that give this print just a touch of extra flare.
Because each print is made by hand, there are going to be variations among each one. They are all truly one-of-a-kind!
