Linocut in Progress: Wearing o' the green. Literally.

A month too late for St. Patrick's Day, but I've definitely got my green on with this linocut. I can't believe how long this little bitty thing is taking, but many projects are converging simultaneously and I'm struggling with time management.

Unfortunately, good camera skills are NOT one of the convergent realities, so sorry about this image:

Can you say, "Kinda blurry?"

It's a nice green, though... and it was amusing to realize that once again I had mixed a color that matched the shirt I was wearing while working. If you're following me on Instagram you likely saw this photo:

I've already blamed my lack of progress on an over-full calendar, which is true, but it's also true that there is probably an element of foot-dragging involved. I started this piece without a firm plan for the background, other than a final dark-to-light blend behind the blossoms.

Luckily I could do one more pass for the leaves and stem before I had to face the background issue. This time I mixed up a lovely transparent blue:

Which gave me......

GREEN! Of course. But a cooler one.

Funny thing is, I'm wearing a blue shirt today, but it's not transparent ultramarine. More like super-faded chambray.

The question of the background can no longer be ignored, but YIKES! I was expecting a truck to come and pick up a piece of equipment tomorrow (more on this saga later) but just got a call that they're on their way NOW. My reaction has been to stuff two cookies and a handful of almonds into my mouth and watch all my brain cells vanish in the resulting panic. Yes, it's packed up and ready to go, but I don't have any backup help arranged and I have to shuffle a couple of other appointments around. I've got an hour and a half. Better go figure it out.