The Printmaker's Day (including a new Linocut-in-Progress)

It's been a rainy, foggy, blustery day here in midcoast Maine, not unexpected for this time of year and certainly not unexpected for... my birthday! How many times have I had a birthday blizzard? A lot. Today's rain, by comparison, is no big deal.

Luckily the weather held off last night for my opening at the Green Lion Gallery in Bath, and I was surprised by a number of friends who came out to see the show and then help me celebrate with a birthday-eve dinner. (You know who you are... thank you!)

When I woke this morning to rain lashing the windows I was delighted! My plans for a perfect birthday? A fire in the woodstove and ink on the table.

I had two new linos drawn and paper prepped. One of the images requires a lot of white space, which I have carved away already, but it's going to be a larger format than I've printed before and I have a little trepidation about it. When in doubt, start the smaller one!

One good reason for starting the smaller one is that the first color pass required only a spot-inking of yellow with a mask to contain it.

Linocut in progress, Step 1

Step 1 printed

An exciting start, eh?

Of course the carving for this step took about 5 minutes, and then I was ready for the second color. I mixed a transparent gray...

Step 2 printed

Not significantly more interesting than the first step, I know. But hey! Can you tell what it's going to be yet?

Carving for the third pass took at least four times the amount of effort as the previous color! (Snort. You do the math.) With things moving along so quickly I decided to go ahead and print a third color.

Step 3 printed

If the first yellow blob didn't immediately solve the mystery of subject matter for you, perhaps the state of things after the blue pass will start to provide some focus.....

Carving for Step 4 now will take a bit more time, and two full layers of ink (the first one hardly counts) will take a day or two to dry in our rainy weather, so I don't expect to print again for a couple of days. I have some small linos to hand-paint, frame, pack, and ship to Colorado this week, so probably I'll fit those tasks in between carving sessions.

It's been a fine day to begin my next trip around the sun. (Which I know is out there, even if I can't see it for the clouds.) Onward!