The Circus part 12

Looking around on the web today for news about last night's basketball game, I ran across a news story about a drive-in hamburger place that is being fixed up for business.  It had closed several years ago, leaving only two left in the chain (and one in NJ), but a guy who always wanted to have such a place has bought it, and plans to fix it up to look like it did in its prime, and sell all the classic foods.  Sounds very familiar, as the closest drive-in restaurant that sold hamburgers went through that same process a few years ago, except that after a year plus of being empty, it was completely torn down, so I doubt it will be re-opened.  And after the original owners retired, it had passed through a number of hands, and despite huge summer crowds, all eventually walked away.  The drive-in restaurant business may not be as simple or as profitable as it looks from outside.  I wish this new guy luck, as I believe the world could use all the good independent hamburger stands it can get, but I have little confidence in its future.

However it did remind me that I have a print going on right now about that former local drive-in, and I had some time to devote to it today.  Got up to the Studio in the afternoon and continued the cutting of the block.  With the sign done, and the car hop tray done, time to move on to the space in the middle.  So a little more architecture today, and a little bit of the clear vinyl panels that went up each year in the colder weather, and were up when I photographed it ahead of the demolition. Even caught a reflection of my vehicle (see above), which should make clearer that the food in the foreground is on a window tray and the function of the location.  However, I decided to stop after that, as I had sketched that part of the block a long time ago and I'm not sure about what everything in there is.  I have long believed in the philosophy of check twice and cut once (very important in woodcut) and I had more photos of the scene at home, so why not verify what is there before I commit to anything?

But I was enjoying doing some cutting, and I had all my sets of tools with me today, so I decided to deal with something that had to be done sooner or later.  I cut a nice wide border around the rectangular image of the scene, which will make a clean margin a bit easier when the time comes to print it, which may be in a week or two.  The results of the day's efforts can be seen above.  The pieces that are left are all just solid color and tone shapes, so should go quickly.  So far the overall balance looks good, but it's good to do these things gradually.  After all, I have no specific deadline, and it's best to check twice and cut the wood once, as I can't put anything back after it's cut.