Linocut in Progress: But what KIND of progress?

Clearly I've lost a little of my winging-it mojo in the last few weeks. My tendency to jump in to a reduction linocut with only moderate planning has already gotten me in to trouble but, hey! Let's just call it a "learning experience" and see what happens.

Step 2: This is where I went wrong. Yep. On the SECOND step. There's some lovely red-orange to go in this piece and I should have started with that instead of the greens. It would have been easy enough to make gray-greens by layering them over red. Pulling a bright red back out of this (especially after Step 3) is going to be a challenge. But I was thinking about value and not color when I started and that meant greens first.

Step 2: You probably won't be surprised if I tell you the subject is plant life.

Step 3: Still looks like plants, eh?

Step 3: I need some tiny bits of a chartreuse-y green in the upper part of this image and the lower part will be tangles of grasses and leaves, so a blended roll seemed like a good idea. At this point I've also realized that I've backed myself into a color corner, so I'm hoping a yellow-dominated green will help when it comes time to pull a red-orange shape out of here.

Step 4: Okaaaaayyyy. Now what?

Step 4: The color is swinging back around to where I need it in the top half of the image, but now the value is WAY too dark. We will now enjoy a longish pause while I sort out how to remedy the problem. I think I'm going to cut a mask and print a lighter color where I need to regain control... but my chance for success is not certain.

This weekend I commented to a friend that it's been a while since I've documented a major crash-and-burn on this blog and I'm hoping that this is not the image that breaks that streak. Stay tuned... creative rubberneckers might get a good show.