It takes a long time and a lot of wrist and shoulder to put color on 34 large pieces of paper. Added to that, I’m now blotting each layer - that is, I'm laying a blank sheet of newsprint over the freshly printed piece and rubbing the back of that, to pick up any excess ink. This is so the multiple layers don’t build up so thickly and fail to dry. It's not a problem with two or three layers, but some parts of this will end up with six or seven layers. That can get thick and shiny. But the blotting helps a lot.
So far this week, I’ve added three more layers of ink on the tulip, and started on the blue.
Impression 3 – soft orange. A sheet of newsprint at the side, showing the ink that was picked up from the fresh print. It doesn’t seem to make a difference to the brightness of color on the print, unless I rub very hard.
Impression 4 – brighter orange. I love that smoky look. But I want more definition on the individual petals.
This is the block carved for the orange ink, with Xs to show me where I want to carve away next for the redder orange. The line-y edges aren’t supposed to show distinctly – they’re to indicate to me where I want the color to blend. I’ll spread the ink more thinly there. But I don’t mind if the edges do show. Each print turns out a little different.
Impression 4 – Redder orange. You can see some places show the lines reaching toward the center; others just blend.
Impression 5 – Even redder
Impression 6 – at last, a different color! The lightest blue. The little flowers will stay this color; the background panels will end up darker.
Sorry it's taking so long. But isn't it fun to see the picture change and grow?
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