Oil goes well with metal machinery, such as a printing press. Water goes well with living things that depend on water, like wood, and our own bodies. So printing with water works best done by hand, using a baren.The use of water as a medium in art and writing, and a tradition of the disciplined use of the human body in the production of craft, may have a lot to do with why Japan hosts a strong tradition of printing with water.

A print by Harunobu, the first artist to introduce the multiple color block technique	Print by Kuniyoshi, showing a carver at work	Print by Emil Orlik, of Czechoslavakia, showing a printer at work

I have been working the craft of color woodblock print-making since January, 1993. Years spent working in the building trades after college (particularly cabinet-making) contributed a lot to the development of my printmaking. Self-taught in my printmaking, my pursuit in the first few years was mostly in isolation. Being able to spend time with Japanese prints, at home, with friends and neighbors who own prints, at museums, through books, has been very helpful. In my craft I feel grateful to the work and discoveries of generations of artists and craftsmen, many Japanese but not all. Finding Walter Phillips' book Technique of the Colour Woodcut was particularly helpful.