Tagged among Cozzolino's depictions of craftspeople, this print emerged from an iteration the artist made visible: she finished the work, then left it pinned in the studio for weeks before returning to the black key block to carve further. That recutting — adding density and edges to the linework — is consistent with how mokuhanga practitioners refine a print across editions, since blocks can be modified between pulls in a way etching plates cannot. The subject of a working figure aligns the print with a longer thread of artisan portraiture in Japanese woodblock, from Hokusai's Manga sketches of tradesmen onward, recast here in a contemporary European studio. Cozzolino prints small editions on Japanese paper using water-based pigments, applying colour by hand with brush and [baren](/glossary/baren) rather than press, so each impression in the run reflects her direct contact with the paper. Her account of returning to the block weeks later also marks how she works without external deadlines, refining toward her own judgement.
I finished this prints 2 weeks ago.. but something wasn’t really right, so I let it hung on my studio wall and now and then I looked at it to try to sort out what to change. Last week I decided to carve the black block some more because I wanted... was created by Mara Cozzolino.
I finished this prints 2 weeks ago.. but something wasn’t really right, so I let it hung on my studio wall and now and then I looked at it to try to sort out what to change. Last week I decided to carve the black block some more because I wanted... depicts craftspeople.
