It can't be avoided anymore. It's time to address the details of this bird.
As many have figured out from the bird's silhouette and its habitat, the subject of the current linocut in progress is the American Dipper. The dipper is a unique and delightful little thing–– a songbird that swims and walks along underwater to glean aquatic insects from rocks. But it's also... gray.
Just. Gray.
Okay... the head of the adult is a brownish gray, as you'll see. But in general it's just gray. For the entire process up until now I've been worrying about whether or not a little gray bird will get lost in the chaos of this background. Can I make a subtle bird the focus of a chaotic environment without making it look like it's cut out and pasted onto the background?
And what the heck was I thinking?
Naught to do but carry on, I guess. First let's do something to give the bird some form. Because here I am, working in a graphic media, using flat, hard-edged shapes to give objects subtle form. (Insert eyeroll emoji here.)
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| Reduction linocut in progress - Step 12 rollup |
For Step 12 I rolled up a light-to-dark gray blend, just for the body of the bird.
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| Step 12 printed |
Of course the top edge when printed isn't nearly as light as it looked on the block, because there was already color underneath and my new ink layer was semi-transparent. But this is fine. I think.
I hemmed and hawed about how fussy to be about the brown head. Should I cut a mask? In the end I decided to just roll the ink on and wipe extraneous bits with a rag before printing and call it good enough.
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| Step 13 rollup |
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| Step 13 printed |
Yes, these photos are pretty awful...such inconsistent color! I've been working at night or on cloudy/rainy days a lot recently, so photography has been a bit rough. I promise you'll see something good at the end!
Now where were we? Oh, right! Enough fiddlefaddling around with "big" shapes, it's time to get on with some details.
Step 14! (Will this thing never end?)
At least I'm only working in a very small section of the block now. You can probably see that I didn't bother to take the last of the background material off the block at this stage. I have a theory that a little more material to support the paper when it goes through the press can make it less apt to slip and smear. I don't know if that's true. It might just be an excuse to not have to carve all that material away.
Step 15 was more of the same transparent gray after a bit of carving, and apparently I didn't take a photo in between... so here are both rollups together:
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| Step 14 rollup |
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| Step 15 rollup |
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| After Steps 14 and 15 |
I was feeling pretty good about the bird at this stage. In a less chaotic background I might have been tempted to leave it at this stage... nice and subtle as a dipper should be. But I can't have it getting lost, so I have to push for just a wee bit more contrast.
Unfortunately at this stage the ink was all very wet. I tried to press on (see what I did there?), SO anxious to finish, knowing how close I was. But I got a bad case of wet rejection... a situation in which the new ink not only won't adhere to the already-printed-but-still-wet ink, but it will also pull the wet ink off the paper. I had to give it up and go to bed.
So now.... Step 16! Holy cow. Will this be the end at last?
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| Step 16 rollup |
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| Step 16 printed |
(Sigh) Nope. In any other situation this would probably be great. I am really happy with how this bird looks. But it needs one more teeny-tiny bit of oomph to bring it over the line.
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| Step 17 rollup |
Really. A teeny-tiny bit. Could this be the most ridiculous color pass ever? Nah. I've actually had smaller ones.
But it was worth it.
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| Tentative title: "A Dip at Dawn" or "A Breakfast Dip" or....... Reduction linocut, 12" x 12" Edition of 22 @Sherrie York |
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