iPad mobile safari printing
Depending on your printer, you can sometimes print photos from the printer end. If your printer is able to see photos on your iPad using the camera connection kit, then you could take a screenshot of the webpage, then find the image using the photo browser function of your printer, and print the image.

If your printer is airprint enabled, then it might be possible to do as you suggest and connect the printer to the iPad hotspot, but I don't have an iPad that can create WiFi hotspots, so I can't test it.