Amongst the Green

Amongst the Green is a high-summer composition, likely depicting a path, structure, or figure embedded in dense growing rice or wooded foliage. Ohtsu's summer prints frequently take this perspective — the viewer placed within or just at the edge of the green rather than looking across it from a distance — and use overlapping planes of flat color to convey depth without aerial perspective. The technical demand of a near-monochrome subject is met by separate blocks for graduated greens, with [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) sometimes used at the boundaries of leaves and water to soften transitions. The title's preposition amongst suggests an immersive composition, perhaps a glimpse through stalks or branches, evoking the close-quarters experience of summer in the Japanese countryside. Within Ohtsu's body of work, such images function as the seasonal counterpoint to his snow scenes and autumn views, completing his sustained record of rural life across the agricultural year.