Flicker

Flicker, dated 2007 and specifically associated with Sleeping Bear Dunes, likely depicts light moving through dune grasses or across the sand surface of this northwestern Michigan National Lakeshore. The Sleeping Bear Dunes — massive glacial blowouts rising above Lake Michigan — are a recurring site in Brodbeck's practice, and this print probably captures the effect of afternoon or low-angle light animating the sparse vegetation that takes hold in the interdune areas. The title's word choice — flicker rather than flash or glow — implies brief, irregular light, the kind created when wind moves grass and interrupts direct sun. Technically, rendering this effect in mokuhanga would require precise color registration to suggest moving light without hard edges, likely using thin washes with minimal pigment saturation and delicate baren pressure to keep the washi grain visible. As an early-period work (2007), it represents Brodbeck's developing engagement with the Sleeping Bear landscape as subject.