Reduction printing: It's about what remains

Eight colors. I know I said seven, but you know that I know that I sound like a broken record*, so from here on out I will try to refrain from making too many predictions about total colors in a linocut. I'll mention my approximate goal when I start, but as I can no longer remember the last time I met a target, I'll just stop bringing it up. Deal?

(*Wait. Does anyone even get this simile anymore?)

The preceding warm green color added some interest to the background shape, but I still wasn't satisfied. It needed another intermediate step, so I carved a bit more out of the two "suggested" trees and started in with a third one. I didn't want a flat color, since that's was what was making me so crazy about the background shape, so I added a whole bunch of blue to the leftover green ink scraps and then rolled it up as a color-to-transparent blend. Like this:

Maybe if you click to embiggen it might be a little easier to see??

Unfortunately it's still something that my camera can't seem to record.. at least not under studio light conditions. And since it was -12 F this morning I did NOT go outside to try a daylight shot. (I draw the line at some kinds of suffering for my craft.) You'll have to settle for this fuzzy detail photo and try to imagine what it looks like in real life.

Satisfied with the background at last, I turned my attention to the final dark. A straightforward printing, but a good bit of carving to do. Not much material to leave on the block. Hmmm.

It's always a bit risky to have the last color involve minimal printing surface, for several reasons. Thin lines over the built-up layers of ink can be difficult to print, registration gets delicate, and without much inked surface to "grip" the paper chances of slippage increase about a gazillion-fold. (That's a scientific calculation, I swear.)

But I carved away, anyway.

It was at this point that the phrase "what remains" started rattling around in my head. I'm not convinced that it's the title for this particular piece. But I do feel certain it will turn up somewhere down the line.

ANYWAY... Carving complete, the last color went down with far less headache than I expected. I'm feeling fairly confident that when I finally sort dry prints I'll have an edition of 10 or 11 (from a start of 12).

I think I mentioned at the start of this reduction print that it was a color reworking of an image I did maybe 4 years ago in a single color. I made a point not to look at that piece while I was working on this one... I was curious to see how my sense of it might change. While I still like the concept of this image in black and white, I think the drawing and carving in this new color piece are a marker of how my skills have grown.

I do like the slightly "compacted" proportions of the black and white version. I drew the scene a little narrower and exaggerated some of the curves more than in the new version. The single color version is also smaller... 8"x6" as opposed to 12"x9".

With this piece completed it feels like the next steps for me are going to be a bit more experimental. I have a collaborative project in the wings that seems to be asking for something white-on-white with some blind embossing. I've not tried embossing by hand before... so we'll see how it goes.

But in the Now for Something Completely Different category, my brother started his first blog last week, showcasing his renewed interest in photography. I think he's off to a good start, so if you have a chance pop on over to Steve's Photo Blog and show him some blog love maybe he'll keep it up!