Week three / day one of the semester. I'm in a constant state of juggling projects, so the quality and consistency of my usual documentation has been poor.
There was also a bit of a bear problem…
The first assignment for printmaking was a four color linoleum block (black, white, plus two colors), concept: "mask". Instead of going the direct (and probably easier) route, the thumbnail I liked the most involved a raven wearing its very own plague mask. I later worked up an ink drawing, scanned and grabbed the line work, and then fiddled around with color concepts in ps:
Progress shot of the first carving session, removing all areas destined to be white:
The first run of color:
The initial mix was on the dark side, so I remixed and lightened the color as I went along. The next carving session removed the grey background areas and prepped for the blue of the bird's body:
I did my best to line up my registration marks, but hovering over the paper with a block of inked linoleum/wood, trying to line up four corners before touching down was pretty nerve wracking. In theory, everything should have lined up and the previous grey bird body should have been completely covered by the new layer of blue.
Finally, all that should have remained on my carving block was the black line work. Once that was inked up, I made the final pulls, ultimately ending in this, my finished Plague Bird:
Each print is handmade, unique, and imperfect. I even ended up with this variation:
I'm currently working on the second printmaking assignment, which will be a collagraph. I hope to be back soon with photos of that process + my blunderings in ceramics.
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