Linocut in Progress: Hey! That's not gray!

Long-time followers of Brush and Baren know that planning, at least in terms of linocuts, is not one of my strong suits. In the early days of my printmaking adventures, however, I would at least think about my image and make a list of colors to be printed and the order in which printing would happen. Sure, I'd usually throw that list out after step 3 or 4, but at least I put some effort into thinking about it.

Lately it seems that my planning stops at composition. Is my drawing on the block? Good enough... let's start printing! 

It could be argued that my non-system is working, since I do usually get to the end of a piece in a satisfactory way. But, geez, do I cause myself excessive amounts of angst.

This time I've really gotten myself into a pickle, though, because I've decided to change something about the drawing. Yes, after I've done a boatload of carving I'm going to try to "retrofit" an object into a shape that was meant to represent something else. 

I'm not going to say much more about the change at this point, because I haven't really figured out how I'm going to do it, and the entire idea may just fall apart before it gets very far. 

In the meantime... look at this nice blue-that-isn't-gray! Purdy, ain't it? This is color pass... hmm. Seven already? That seems a bit ridiculous, but here we are. 

I didn't want this blue everywhere, so I inked just one section of the block. The previously-printed color was still a tiny bit tacky on the prints, though, so I made a newsprint mask to prevent damage from the un-inked portion of the block.

Step 7 mask in place

And here we are. Blue blob in gray universe with purple-bellied bird. Having trouble picturing the end result? I'm not surprised.

Reduction linocut in progress: Step 7 printed

The blue is nice, but let us confuse the issue a little more by adding another non-gray color to the mix. How about a sort of light ochre? These blobby shapes behind the bird are beach detritus, mostly dark seaweed and eel grass, but with a few twigs and other things mixed in. Ochre could be a nice twig color. 

Step 8 spot ink

Again I want to contain the color, so I cut a mask to fit in the top portion of the block. Initially I tried to print the ochre right after the blue, but the newsprint mask stripped off the freshly-printed blue ink, so I had to stop and wait a day or two. 

Step 8 mask

It's both amusing and annoying how the addition of the ochre color changes the way the camera reads the color balance. I've tried to adjust the balance in this photo, but the upper background still reads as ridiculously pink. No. It's gray, I promise.

Step 8 printed

So now I have these strange color shapes to contend with. I think for the next color pass I am going to go back to a transparent gray, which I hope will make things feel a little more cohesive again. 

Or not. There's one more little bit of oddly bright color that needs to be in this image and now may be the time to do it. Hm. Could be a fiddly bit of inking, though. I might have to make... a plan!