The scene
An indigo night sky with long streaks of cloud, a band of pink glow low at the horizon, and still water the colour of the sky. A small two-carriage train moves slowly through the shallows, trailing a wake, its headlamp and one window lit. Far off a red shrine gate stands in the water beside a small lantern, with reeds in the foreground. It is calm, dreamy and a little bit magical.
The style
A Meiji-era Japanese woodblock night print: deep blue and indigo dusk turning to night, soft graded darkness, the train's lamp and its reflection the only warm points of light, fine rain-like lines in the air and the wood grain showing through.
The inspiration
Inspired by the gentle, dreamlike look of Japanese animated films, and drawn in the manner of Kobayashi Kiyochika's night views, such as Kudanzaka at Night (1880), with flat washes, visible block lines and one lit window. An independent art print, not affiliated with or endorsed by any studio.
How it's made
A print of a digital artwork in the style of a late nineteenth-century Japanese woodblock night scene, not an original. Each carries my printed Chapter & Scene signature.
