Graphic Studio Dublin • Ed Miliano: Autumn Blackbird

Autumn Blackbird advances Miliano's seasonal cycle into the year's most chromatically charged phase. The autumn setting suggests a palette of russet, ochre, burnt sienna and the deepening greens of leaves on the turn — registers well-suited to water-based mokuhanga, where transparent overlays can build complex tertiary tones without losing luminosity on the [washi](/glossary/washi) ground. [Bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) gradations are particularly effective for rendering the diffuse light of an Irish autumn and the soft transitions between colouring leaves, while the blackbird's solid silhouette provides graphic counterpoint to the surrounding chroma. Within the bird-and-flower ([kacho-e](/glossary/kacho-e)) tradition, autumn imagery in Japanese prints often features maple, persimmon or chrysanthemum; here the iconography is shifted to native Irish flora — possibly hawthorn, beech or rowan — relocating the seasonal motif to a Northern European ecology. As the third panel in the four-season cycle, the print also operates as part of an installation-scale work, designed to read both individually and in sequence with its spring, summer and winter companions.