Ink is drying unusually slowly, so this piece seems to be crawling forward. That may or may not be a good thing. Too much time to think between steps can be deadly to enthusiasm.
But I'm carrying on anyway. Here I've put another slightly darker gray in the underwing and body of the bird. I waffle a lot about whether these tones are too dark or not dark enough. I'm looking at a reference photo in which the shadows are almost black (a common problem with photographic reference)... and I don't want that. Instead I'm worrying that I've gone too pale.
But there's nothing to be done about it now, so I entertained myself with this little orange bill. It looks completely out of place at the moment, but there are some darks to go into the head and around the edges of the primaries, so I'm reasonably confident it won't be so obnoxious in the end.
Not much left on the block at this point... so why do I think I have at least three colors to go?
If the contents of my inbox are any indication, one of the biggest challenges for new printmakers is the question of registration. For those...
"The Linocut Jig." Sounds like it should be a piece of contemporary Celtic music, eh? As promised, some pix and descriptions of m...
the waves, the waves!
ReplyDeleteHi Sherrie,
ReplyDeleteThe print is looking lovely!
Can you tell me what paper you use that can take so many layers of ink?
I am another printmaker admiring your work from afar (Wales, UK).
Lee
that orange beak really makes the bird pop forward :)
ReplyDelete3 more colours?! there is hardly anything left of the block lol
The waves, indeed!
ReplyDeleteLee, I'm using Awagami Kozo, which is fairly thin. (I'm think it's 42gsm. I just ordered some 90 gsm to try.) The key is to apply each ink layer as thinly as possible.
Oh, Jen... it's worse than that. Today it became clear I need FIVE more colors to finish this. Two in the bird, three in the water/trees.
2 more in the bird? not much left to carve in that area o.0
ReplyDeleteThanks Sherrie!
ReplyDelete