Below the Duck Pond

"Below the Duck Pond" is a 1982 oban color woodblock print by Micah Schwaberow that takes its title from a specific landscape location, directing the viewer's gaze to the terrain downstream or downhill from a body of water inhabited by ducks. The title's specificity suggests a real place known to the artist, perhaps near his Northern California home. Schwaberow, who trained in traditional Japanese mokuhanga techniques, applies those methods to landscapes drawn from his own environment rather than Japanese scenery. The duck pond establishes an ecological setting: still water, wetland vegetation, and the animal life that gathers around such places. By positioning the viewer "below" the pond, the composition implies looking back uphill toward the water source, an unusual vantage point that creates a distinct spatial relationship between observer and landscape.