A nocturnal landscape print pairing the warmth of day with the cool of evening through a moon-and-trees composition. The juxtaposition implied by the title suggests Spitzack uses [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) gradation—a technique central to mokuhanga where pigment is graded across a single block during printing—to render the transition between sky temperatures and the diffused glow of moonlight through foliage. Water-based pigments printed on [washi](/glossary/washi) allow the soft, layered color fields the moon motif requires, where opaque oil-based inks would flatten the effect. Trees rendered as silhouetted shapes against a graded ground are a recurring device in contemporary mokuhanga, drawing from a tradition of nocturnal landscapes explored by Hasui and Yoshida. As an American practitioner working in the Pacific Northwest, Spitzack engages with this lineage while bringing regional vegetation and atmospheric conditions to bear on the format.
Mokuhanga (Japanese woodblock)
![Mount Fuji on a Moonlit Night, Kawai Bridge (Tsukiyo no Fuji [Kawaibashi]), from the series "Selection of Views of the Tokaido (Tokaido fukei senshu)" by Kawase Hasui](https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/d0960668-1e73-339a-b182-fb995a54bff0/full/843,/0/default.jpg)
1947
Color woodblock print; oban
March 1933
Color woodblock print; oban
1919
Color woodblock print
January 1938
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
warm days cool nights woodblock woodcut Japanese mokuhanga print printmaking washi seattle art fine printmaker nw printmaking relief prints tree moon color woodcut contemporary artist pnw seattle print arts was created by Charles Spitzack.
warm days cool nights woodblock woodcut Japanese mokuhanga print printmaking washi seattle art fine printmaker nw printmaking relief prints tree moon color woodcut contemporary artist pnw seattle print arts depicts moonlight and trees.