Linocut in Progress: Wait. What's that yellow thing?

Printmakers like process, that should be fairly obvious. Technical know-how dances with aesthetic interpretation and hopefully produces a lovely pas de deux.

But sometimes the process is less graceful. More slam dance than ballet, and you just have to step away. I printed another color on the snow scene on Friday, but it was a struggle. The existing layers were just too tacky, and I had to stop after every print to clean spots on the block that were pulling up ink. It was clear that a time-out was needed, but I have a looming exhibition deadline. I really wanted to get this piece finished before beginning another that I'm also trying to get together for the show, but I can't afford to do nothing for a couple of days while the snow scene dries.

Wait. What does a yellow rectangle have to do with a snow scene?

Sooooo..... I decided to go ahead and start a second piece. I try to avoid this partly because I don't like to have my attention divided, but mostly because I just don't have a lot of room to manage 40-50 large sheets of paper all at once. But desperate times and all that....

Fortunately the first step of this new piece (image size 12" x 18") was just a yellow rectangle. A ridiculously bright yellow rectangle. Not much of it remained for the next step, which was this:

Linocut in progress, Step 2

Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of this second ink during the rollup. It's too bad because this was a great example of the fun of transparent color. Believe it or not, this was a powder pink with a drop of violet in it and lots of transparent base. It looks ochre in the photo, which isn't bad... but in real life it's a bit more nebulous, which is what I wanted. Pinky-peachy-lavendery... because the next layer will be a tad more lavender. I think.

Which piece I work on next depends on whether the snow scene is dry enough to proceed. I hope everyone's brains can manage the jumping back and forth... especially mine!