Sit. Stay. No, really. Sit. Please.

Days so often unfold in unexpected ways.

Color pass 1

Take today, for example. Because Friday's video interview took place in Colorado Springs, with me just standing in front of a wall of prints, I thought it might be useful to shoot some "demo" footage here at the studio and send it to the editor to cut in. (A suggestion which was received graciously by the videographers, although they were probably groaning inwardly at amateurs who have "ideas.") But, really... Maybe they could use some footage to sift through beyond Sherrie-the-talking-head?

It was a good idea, but for one small problem. Until last night I had no lino ready to work on. El nothing-o with which to demo.

Thankfully, I had a pre-mounted 5-by-7-inch block waiting on the shelf, so last night before bed I shuffled through my collection of potential images and found something "doable." My trusty Sharpie pen and I got the drawing done and I was ready to roll this morning.

Color pass 2

But, of course, the first color pass required no cutting and was, IMHO... boring to film.

So I printed it sans camera and and set to work carving for the second pass. Also boring. Well, I didn't think the carving part was very interesting for video, anyway. It was mostly little tiny marks at the top of the block. Chip, chip, chip. But we (the DM and I) shot the printing of the second pass and I decided the carving for the third pass would be more interesting.

Except that partway through the carving I decided that the second color had been too dark. So I put down my tools and printed the third (lighter) color.

Color pass 3

Oh, honestly! I think I need to send my inner border collie to obedience school. This was supposed to be a straightforward couple of shots. Carve some. Print some. Stop.

Right.

The good news is that the carving and printing of color pass FOUR satisfied my sense of what might be interesting as a demonstration. The bad news is that it took me all day to get there. (Was there something else I was going to do today? Probably.)

Color pass 4. Time to give the dog a cookie.

I have no idea if anything we shot today will make it into the final segment, but I'm not sure it matters. I'm unexpectedly four colors in to the second linocut of 2011!

I think the border collie deserves a cookie and a pat on the head, don't you?
Good dog. Now sit.