Linocut in Progress: I bet you can tell what it is already.

Why yes, I do have important exhibition jury deadlines looming. Why else would I tackle another largeish (18" x 18") reduction linocut with ridiculous amounts of carving in a short time frame? Because, hey! Life is apparently not stressful enough.

I did, however, learn a few things from the last image, namely to avoid a blended roll as first color pass. This time I started with a nice, straightforward, nothing fancy, transparent gray.

Step 1

The irony is that it LOOKS like a blended roll in this photo. Blame a night shot under artificial light.

But I bet you can guess the subject already, even with just one color. (Non-North-American residents are exempt from this bet.)

Step 2

The second pass was also a straightforward gray, but OOPH. The carving? Not so straightforward. Three eyeball-crossing days of tiny mark-making! I think, however, that this was the most complex stage. At least I hope it was.

This piece is going to be the antithesis of the previous print. Where "Wild Dreams" was all about color, this linocut-to-be-named-later will sport many shades of gray. The exception, of course, will be brighter bits in the subject's beak and face and feet.

Progress will be erratic the next few days, as I have to turn my attention to a contract project. But my mind will be with this calmly cruising critter. Deadlines? What deadlines?