Print work

I’ve been working more slowly this week, struggling a little with a cold, so stand up painting has been out, but prints lend themselves to sitting quietly. I’ve carved this one pretty fully at this point. It’s based on one of my larger waterscapes, but I liked the image enough to want to play with it in carving as well. I’ve tested it in black and white and in color, and now all the options are hanging in my work room while I ponder them and decide what I want the final edition to be. I like several options, so I think it will end up a “varied edition” where there are a total number of final prints, but they don’t all look the same. That way people can choose which they prefer.

It’s been raining like crazy, so the color test photo is pretty dark. The options are white paper on top and light blue on the bottom. I darkened the boat on the top one, and I like that better, no matter which paper I end up using (or likely both. I really like the black and white as well.

I’ve been drawing out a new water print, also based on a recent painting, and last night I transferred it to a block. I’ll likely take this one with me to Washington, since it’s nicely portable work, unlike a larger painting.

I also pulled out an older block I had abandoned several years ago and did some more work carving it. I like the moon, but it needs something to go with it. I’m pondering using it with two different other blocks I already have that I would like to revisit and use in different ways. I tend to think about one single image at a time, and collaging prints like this is good mental stretch for me.

So lots of smaller things are happening at once around here, which is great for prints, because you can let one project dry while you work on a different one for a bit.