Creating the "Moonlit Crow" Print

Crows are cunningly smart.  They can use tools, recognize human faces, and even have their own rituals like a funeral. In Japan, the crows are larger than the US cousins with the wing span of over fifty centimeters. On my way to the studio I often encounter a few and don’t get tired of watching them go about their business.

This woodblock print, Moonlit Crow is inspired by those encounters. This is a new version with a new color palette of the earlier letterpress edition, Crow & Persimmon (which is no longer available). For this mokuhanga, I used many woodblock printing techniques, including the gradation technique (bokashi) and the textured printing achieved through mokume (woodgrain) printing.