A Shopping Mystery part 8-finished

Today's plan was to print the new block, but first a few cuts. Some were just lines to separate two black shapes. The biggest change was the customer's shirt. It had been a gray tone that was very similar to those around it, and based on the rubbing, I thought it might not separate will from the background. Didn't want it to go all white, so I used a gouge to cut out every other vertical stripe, resulting in a lighter gray.

After pulling the first proof I wasn't completely satisfied. That customer's shirt (above left) stood out, but I didn't like the effect, and the surrounding contours were too thick. So I got out the gouge again and cut away most of those remaining vertical stripes and cleaned up the contour. I also made a few changes by the dog, thinning the black patch on its rear leg and cutting the dog bowl a little more.

With that settled, I pulled the next proof. I liked the results, and pulled one more, giving me two successful copies of the print for the edition. The print is officially titled Scenes from the Grand Opening #22, completed not quite two years after the previous supermarket print.

I had one more piece of Rives Lightweight ready to go and ink on my palette, so I decided to pull of proof of that last supermarket print from 2 years ago. I did this because when I was recently photographing work for my website update I realized that I didn't have a loose copy of it. (the first two from the edition are in frames behind glass, having hung in simultaneous shows) Ten minutes work and I had #3/10 printed. I took my last two prints of the day home, and left the first two (state proof and edition #1/10) of the new block in the Studio to dry.

The print part of the project is done, and if nothing else happens, I have added to one of my most popular series with a nice print. However, I may try to use this as the basis of a video artwork for the upcoming Belmar Urban Myths show. Next week there will be a workshop at the Boatworks to help facilitate this. I'll go check it out, see what's possible, and maybe try my hand at a new medium. If not, I'll just submit the print to the show.