While living in Kyoto, Shionyara trained for ten years in the traditional Japanese woodblock printing style known as Ukiyo-e which is the technical foundation for her artwork. She masterfully combines this traditional practice with techniques of contemporary western printmaking, yielding imagery that is very different from historical Ukiyo-e. "The process of printmaking is appealing to me because of its inherent surprises," says Shinohara. "Until I peel away the paper from the woodblock, I really don’t know what the image will look like. There is always a negotiation going on with the material. Each piece of wood brings its own character to which I must adjust each time. I may decide to change the image in order to preserve what the block is offering me." The story of behind the work is very important to the artist. "There is a sense of narrative that is very private," she explains." The feelings and emotions that I convey through these abstract landscapes matter most to me. Almost always my images are of nature, but it is the essence of the landscape that I want to express, not realistic accuracy.”