Tis the Season still

Got up to the Studio about the same time I did yesterday.  No big lunch scheduled today, but in the past, events like we had yesterday, which ended up with large amounts of food leftover, sometimes resulted in lots of leftovers in the downstairs kitchen for the tenants to share in for another lunch.  Figured it couldn't hurt to look into it.  Unfortunately, all the hot food items were locked away in the 3rd floor kitchen and would stay there today.  They may come out tomorrow, though a lot of the other volunteers may show up to get them, too.  Not a problem today, as I had brought some food with me to eat.  And still there was a bonus- the dessert stuff had been put in the downstairs fridge, so I was able to grab a few cookies and a small piece of cheesecake to accompany my lunch.

But my real reason for going was to work on my card, with Christmas Day just a week away.  Some extra preparation this time.  Walked to the drug store on the corner and bought a few erasers, as the one I had was not cutting it yesterday.   And brought a better pencil from home and a decent pencil sharpener.  By the end of the day yesterday, after I had to erase the whole Not backwards sketch I had done, all I had gotten to was a rough blocking in of the figures and architecture of the setting, and that's about it.  With my upgraded supplies today I was able to fly through the process, finishing the block drawing by early afternoon.

My chosen inspirational artwork, and the section of it that I will be making use of, includes a lot of dark sections, which will end up as black (uncarved) sections of the block.  So in less than a half hour, I was more than half done with the cutting I will need to do.

Of course, you don't get to see that design for another week, but these wood shavings on my table represent much of what I removed today.  I knew that at home I had several sheets of a bristol board type paper, suitable for what I want to do, so I removed one from the rolled up tube I had and laid it out, so it should be relatively flat by tomorrow.  First thing in the morning I'll cut it down into the size for printing a first batch of cards, then by midday up to the Studio to finish cutting the block and pull a few proofs, at least one of which should be suitable for coloring for Christmas Day.  And if a few work out, they can be added to those that will be distributed in the near future.