Graphic Studio Dublin • Ed Miliano: Ed-miliano-winter tree with berries-mokuhanga-gallery-dublin-ireland

This winter tree with berries adds a second graphic register to the bare-branch composition: scattered points of saturated color set against the muted winter ground. The berries likely carry the print's only intense pigment, registered from a small dedicated color block over the carved branchwork, a structure that exploits mokuhanga's capacity for clean, layered registration. In water-based woodblock, small areas of saturated red or orange pigment retain their intensity while remaining tonally integrated with the washi ground, since the pigment is absorbed rather than laid on top. The berry motif places the print in dialogue with kacho-e — the Japanese tradition of bird-and-flower prints, which often pair winter branches with rose hips, holly, or nandina berries. Within Miliano's broader tree series, this print functions as a counterpart to the plain winter tree, introducing a moment of seasonal color into the otherwise reduced composition. The image draws equally on Irish hedgerow imagery, where rowan and hawthorn berries persist on winter branches.