Linocut in Progress: The eiders emerge

I did get the next color down on the puffin piece, but it was such an ordeal that I haven't been back to look at it since I finished yesterday, so no photo yet. In the meantime, work on the (smaller, more manageable) eider linocut moves forward nicely.

Eider linocut: Step 5

The flat light blue of the previous pass was only to provide some shadowing in the male bird, so after just a wee bit of carving I was able to add this slight blend of blues... medium to dark to medium again. The female in the background remains very cryptic, but I think we'll start to get a feel for her in the next pass.

Eider linocut: Step 6

And there she is! Another slightly variegated ink rollup... this time a brighter blue on top and more gray-blue towards the bottom.

I'm pausing now to contemplate whether I want to add another layer of color in the background or leave it subtle like this. After that it should be just two browns, mostly in the female, and a black for the darkest bits of the male.