First print from the Japanese Lanterns plate. This copy was done with printer's ink and a brayer. I would like to do it with sumi ink, but I always have problems with large dark expanses when printing in that style.

I haven't decided on the colors yet for this print. I may just paint the lanterns and leave everything else in black and white. And perhaps the cypress trees as well, in a dark green? 

Japanese Lanterns - unfinished plate

Here's the unfinished plate for a print I've been working on for quite a while now. The design was done about a year and half ago, from a combination of photographs and personal memories. There are quite a few shrines and temples like this in Japan. It's a wonderful experience to go visit one on a summer night when the air is still and heavy, and the sounds of the city are muffled by the trees on the temple grounds.

I made a mistake on this plate, and cheated by filling it in with wood putty. Normally I refrain from doing that, but this print had been so long in coming that I really didn't feel like starting over...