Japanese Lantern Woodblock
March 17, 2018
I recently tried out a block print I'd done a few years ago in the moku hanga style in a new way. My earlier version was done with watercolor and rice paste. I used oil-based inks on the print pictured here. Charbonnel etching inks are thinned with burnt plate oil. I really like the method--it's easier to get greater saturation and also much less of a struggle not having to work with wet paper--maintaining the right amount of moisture in the paper while working on it is not easy. There are several types of lanterns found in Japanese gardens, and this one is an oki-gata, a small lantern set in the ground, often found by the edge of ponds, and rather unobtrusive.