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 You have arrived at your destination. "Motel DeSoto II" 9"X7" 12-color reduction woodcut, using Renaissance Graphics oil inks and Shina plywood on machine made sulfite paper.

This building has been demolished to make way for another vacant lot in Olean, NY. We we're lucky enough to see her shortly before a Buffalo development company bought her.  When I printed "Motel DeSoto" in 2013, I'd expressed hope that she'd be saved. No luck. She has a sister in Bradford PA of similar design, though the sign has been modernized.

 

This is actually the third time I've tried to do this scene. I originally started with blocks of bold color, and stopped after two colors because it wasn't my vision. The second try was more my vision, but not quite there. This latest pass, while much closer, still misses for me. So, we'll see where I am with it in 7 years!

There's much I like in MDII, and I've learned a great deal, which I'm excited to put into the next print.👃

Red, Son? At NIGHT?

Ha ha. I do love a good pun. Anyway, if you've been reading this blog for a while, and I know you have (I'm apparently very popular with someone in Latvia (Heloooooo Riga!)) you know that I have a certain history with red. For some reason, I love to add it to a print early in the process, and then battle my way through the rest of the print trying to escape the red showing through.

"Motel DeSoto" third state (red)

This time is different. Through thorough testing and color selection, and the fact that this is a sunset scene where everything has a certain red tinge, this was the perfect opportunity to add this magnificent bright red. I don't want to go into detail about where the red will be used, but I will say that you shouldn't expect an update on this print for several days, due to the fact that I have a lot of fine-line carving to do, and I intend for it to be awesome, so I'm going to go as slow as I need to. In the meantime, though, I'm looking forward to putting a couple of colors down on "Sunflower Farm" this weekend.

As for what we're looking at now, you can see the outdoor recessed lights on the exterior ceiling, as well as the face of a clock (it's not a moon), and now also you see rows of windows in the background, and the lit windows of the motel office.