David Mahler

Color, in traditional Japanese woodblock printing, has a luminous transparency similar to  watercolor yet of its own distinct effect. A unique quality that reflects the technique of brushing pigment and water onto carved blocks then  pressing into the fibers of the paper in overlapping layers of color. Carving the design  into  cherry wood also begs a characteristic simplification of drawing which moves an image painted from life a step further into imaginative stylization.