Smoking Figure part 31

Today's time in the Studio was devoted to trying out some value/texture concepts. The most important one was how to handle the bricks. I had done a little test a few weeks ago, but now I wanted to try such textures on a larger scale and adjacent to other cut areas. The area to the right of the face will eventually be cut out into a large blank area, so there was no harm in using it to test some marks and see how it would look next to the vertical striping. The results are seen above. Each section was made using a different size gouge. Molly particularly liked the lowest section because it seemed more random. I could see using different tools on different bricks to give some variety to the wall.

I moved on to two light areas along the left side of the block. In the drawing these look white, but in looking at my photo of the model in the pose, that part of the wall behind her is darker (her body blocking some light hitting the wall) while the area to the right was lighter. A similar treatment would make sense for this print, as it would put a darker background against the light edge of the figure (left side) and light against the dark edge (right side). So I used my V gouge to cut some very thin lines into the horizontal stone ledge under the window, next to her shoulder (above), using diagonal and vertical lines to show the plane change. I did the same thing on the slightly projecting stone base of the wall, next to her skirt (below).

Below is the current state of the whole block. That dark area by the face will be removed tomorrow. As for the stone areas, the one by the shoulder sits back nicely. I may remove just a little more, to make sure that it's lighter than the bricks will be. The lower one is definitely too dark, so I will need to thin or remove a bunch of the thin black lines. All those things can wait for another day when the ink is dry.

As of now, I'm planning to bring the block to Belmar tomorrow night for my woodcut demo. I need to show some examples of how I use the various tools to cut a block, and while I could do that with some scrap wood, this block will be a bit more impressive.