Untitled

Color in Lee's untitled prints is built through the staged transparency of mokuhanga rather than the dense opacity of oil-based relief printing. Each block carries a single color, applied with a flat or graded brush directly to the moistened wood, and is transferred to the sheet by hand pressure with a [baren](/glossary/baren) — a coiled bamboo-leaf pad in a circular palm form. Multiple blocks layered in sequence produce hues that arise from optical mixing on the page, a quality more akin to watercolor than to printmaking ink. Lee's parallel work in natural dyeing and textile printing informs this color practice; the same material logic of plant pigment, moisture, and absorbent fiber underlies both. Her tropical north Queensland setting offers a dye palette quite distinct from the historical pigments of Japanese [ukiyo-e](/glossary/ukiyo-e), and contemporary mokuhanga makers working outside Japan increasingly investigate locally sourced colorants. The print likely carries traces of this material approach in its hue choices and surface behavior.