windspirit 2025 dry dock sailboat sail boat rigging port townsend port washington wa woodcut woodblock print printmaking printmaker charles spitzack artist artwork contemporary lino linocut washi seattle

Maritime subject depicting a sailboat in dry dock at Port Townsend, Washington—a Puget Sound town with a long history of wooden boatbuilding. The composition centers on a vessel out of the water, its hull and rigging exposed in a way that emphasizes structure over motion, contrasting with the kinetic title 'windspirit.' Mokuhanga supports this subject through its capacity for both crisp linear definition (cut into the block for masts and rigging lines) and broader washes of color (achieved through bokashi for sky and water). On washi, water-based pigments soak into the fibers, producing atmospheric depth different in character from oil-based Western relief printing. The work belongs to Spitzack's broader engagement with Pacific Northwest subjects, parallel to the Japanese meisho-e (famous-place picture) tradition in which specific localities became recurring sites of artistic attention. Port Townsend appears in his output as a site connecting him to maritime craft cultures that, like mokuhanga, prize manual skill and material specificity.