This piece by Walter Joseph Phillips is called April in the Cotswolds, and it was created by using a woodcut on paper technique. Phillips was a famous Canadian artist, but in this piece, he takes us to Cotswolds which is in the English countryside.
What is interesting about Phillips is he started painting at a young age and he didnt create his first woodcut print until he was 36 years old, proving its never too late to try something new.
Phillips was deeply influenced by the Japanese woodblock printing technique called ukiyo-e (ukioway) or “pictures of the floating world”. Phillips's composition in this piece is clean, uncluttered, and has depth without hard lines, which is hallmark of japanese ukiyo-e prints. The process of making a woodcut print starts as an image is carved into a wooden block then coated with ink and than transferred to paper.
In this piece, it's amazing how it shows Phillips's love for both European and Japanese art. He blends the Western tradition of landscape paintings with the simplicity of Japanese prints.