Linocut in Progress: Where the demo stands

I've been back in Colorado about a week and a half, and suddenly I'm pulling out the suitcase to leave again! Next weekend the festivities for the opening of Birds in Art at the Woodson Art Museum will be underway, and I'm off to Wisconsin to join the goings-on. It's the 40th Anniversary of this prestigious international juried show, and if the strange images that are showing up in my Facebook feed are any indication, there's going to be a lot of goofiness to add to the celebration.

But before I could start packing again I had to get my demonstration piece into good enough shape to have it be meaningful in the 90 minutes I have to complete it on site.

As I show you Step 4, keep in mind that this was going to only be a two-color image.

Demo reduction linocut, Step 4.

 Yep, one more blue pass. Just because. And then a lot of carving to get to Step 5:

Hey! There are birds in this lino! Step 5.

Back when this was going to be a two-color print, this was going to be Step 2, but of course all that went out the window immediately. I seems a little cheezy to end with just a flat dark after all the fussiness with the blues, so this is not the final step. I'm going to carve some details in to the birds and maybe in to a bit of the branches and THEN I'm going to print black. There won't be a lot of contrast, but one doesn't see a lot of contrast when looking within silhouetted shapes, anyway.

I'm not sure that it's going to be a completely successful image, but for something cranked out in two days it will be good enough for the demonstration. I pulled out a print at each stage, so my audience will be able to (hopefully) wrap their brains around the reduction process.

Success or failure, I'll show you the final result when I return from Wisconsin. Until then... check out this great article in Scientific American about the benefits of drawing for art AND science. It made me want to grab my sketchbook and run outside. Maybe I will...