Graphic Studio Dublin • Ed Miliano: Blackbird in Trees 1

The first of two compositions placing the blackbird among trees, this print expands the series' spatial vocabulary into branching, vertical structure. Trees provide an armature for one of mokuhanga's characteristic effects: the layering of transparent pigments to suggest receding planes of foliage, where overlapping impressions of greens, greys, and browns build atmospheric depth without flattening into solid color. Branch structures carved into the woodblock allow for linear precision against the softer tonal fields produced by separate color blocks. The blackbird, set within this lattice of branches, becomes a compositional anchor — a dark fixed point amid more diffuse environmental marks. The Irish wooded landscape, frequently muted and damp, suits mokuhanga's tendency toward translucent, atmospheric color. As the first numbered variant, this print likely establishes the compositional template — viewpoint, branch density, bird placement — that the second iteration will modify, in keeping with the series-based working method evident across Miliano's blackbird and related output.