The End

Here she is, as yet untitled and still drying on the line. There's a little shine from the light on there, but above the screen are a row of tree tops that print black. Better pictures to come over on the ETSY site.

Posts will be sporadic as I gun it for my November 1 show. check out Napping Cat Press on Facebook to get updates on posts.

Thank you for stopping by, and please drive home safe. Goodnight!

Happy Blues

Another productive weekend in the studio saw the addition of the two blues that make up the Chevy on the left. The first blue was tricky -- I wanted it dark, but not so dark it was black, and blue, but not so blue it stuck out.

The second blue needed to be lighter, but still be subdued enough to give the impression of darkness falling around it.

Red All Over

Traditionally in printing, commercial and art, the convention is to put the lightest colors down first. This print has been a bit different. For example, I began with dark gray and moved to the lighter grays. There were two reasons for doing this, the first being that it is easier to take out a fine line than to cut around it. I try to avoid doing the "easy" thing because it actually often ends up either causing bigger problems or ruining the job outright. Having done this particular print a few times already, I knew that dark to light was the way to go. The second thing that led me down the dark-to-light path is that I knew I was going to have to print the rainbow roll as the fourth state. If there were going to be coverage issues, dark gray showing through the blended sky would not work for this print (whereas they were okay for the duck print).

Why not print the rainbow roll first? I could have done that, but again, if the purple or pink had showed up anywhere on the movie screen, it would have looked like moths had eaten through the picture to reveal the sky behind it. Not what I wanted.

So, with two blues and two yellows ahead, I need to plot out my colors carefully. The ink is laying down very nice, so I'm not concerned about coverage too much at this point. If there was another gray on the agenda, I might be tempted to print that next just to give me a clean base on which to build the cars. But there is not a gray. But there is a dark red, and I have chosen to use the dark red as my base. On the dark red will sit a dark blue. The dark blue will support the light blue on top. In an odd choice, but one that works, will be a dark yellow (which will have a greenish tone). Then a lighter yellow on top of that.

The key to a vibrant reduction print is understanding color and how to use the colors underneath to the best advantage of the colors on top.

Let's All Go to the Lobby

I have attempted this print before. If practice makes perfect, we should be seeing a real treat emerge here. The ink is laying down very well, and I'm not seeing any of the issues I had with the duck print.

This state defines what I love most about reduction woodcut printing: at a certain pint, you begin to see the bones of what will become the finished print. You can start to see where the cars will be, where the features of the cars will be.

The toughest part of this print is next, a two color sky. There are a few names for this in printing. In commercial printing and in screen printing, it's called a "split" or a "split fountain"; in relief printing, it's a "rainbow roll." In any case, when it's done well, it adds dimension and complexity to a print. At right
is a blurry photo of a split I did on a screen as I was figuring out colors.

Movie Time

With a show coming up, I can't take a break between projects. I launched right into my drive-in movie print Monday night. I believe I have planned out 11 colors for this one. The second color is down, and it is going very, very well.