A Narrow Escape

Time for week 3 of this latest four week woodcut workshop in Belmar.  The first two Tuesdays included rain, and sure enough, a big rainstorm came across the state in time for this Tuesday afternoon.  However, I had managed to load everything needed for the class early in the day, and by the start time of the class, we were back down to a mere sprinkle.  No bridge delays this time, everyone was ready to work within a few minutes of the start of class.

Mary was actually there early, so as soon as I opened up, she was ready to work.  She had made a few modifications to her current block, a still life with a vase of flowers, and had experimented with hand coloring a few older proofs.  In class tonight she pulled a few proofs of the latest version of her block (using her own can of burnt umber oil based ink), two of which can be seen above.  I let her know that tomorrow is the one year anniversary of the first woodcut class that she ever took, so the current project is her last piece as a first year printmaking student.

Wynn had his two blocks with him, and spent the time concentrating on the first block, the one that will be used to print at least two colors.  In the above photo you can see the large pile of wood splinters by this block- the sign of a busy woodcutter.  Below, siblings Erin and Brendan both made progress on their first ever blocks.  Each probably has about an hour's worth of work to go, so I expect both will be ready to print before the end of next week's class.

Should be a very busy night for next week's concluding woodcut class.  Some cutting, and a lot of printing will be going on.  Maybe it will be a dry night.  Tune in next week and see.