Supermarket Fireworks part 10

Got back to my new supermarket block today.  The last step in the drawing was to add the dark floor tiles.   Random geometric patterns are common enough in supermarkets, and so such things have been common in many of my supermarket prints.  Besides being part of the atmosphere, in my prints they serve another purpose- balancing the black and white in the composition.  Over the weekend I looked at many older prints in the series and found that the only common thing in the choice of pattern was that they provided the balance.  So that would be my approach.

Got to the building just before noon.  No tag on the hook and the basement door cracked, so I would not have to dig out a key, but did hear noise coming from the basement.  Got down there and found it was what I expected- Molly was spraying out some screens.  Hallway was dark, but the switch was in the on position, so the hallway light that had spontaneously become fixed last week was not working once more.  No lights on in the Studio either, but that was Molly- she usually makes her screens with a photo process, and electric lights can ruin the exposure before the emulsion is fully set.  Some light was coming in the window, so I used that to work by for a while.

Looked at the block drawing, roughed in some shapes to balance the compositions, and turned them into tile patterns.  Played with perspective to give some appearance that they were down on the floor. Added some shading to make it clearer to me where they were and how they were functioning.

Above is the right side of the block image, the foreground, where I added a large black shape.  Below, also added black tiles in the deep background, near the bakery.

During a break (Molly is working on things related to the big 5K race the building is holding this weekend), Molly came over to look at the block. She was impressed with how much had been added since the last time she saw it.  One thing she noted was that the two standing figures looked like criminals.  Of course, that is the idea- these characters are guilty of accidentally setting off some fireworks and are trying to pretend they are innocent.  Her plan is a big printing marathon tomorrow, which means it will be a good day not to be there.  Prints for the trophies, printing the t-shirts.  She left, but I hung around a little to do a little more sketching and take photos.  Before leaving the basement I checked the circuit breakers, to see it that was why we had no light in the hallway, but they were all in the ON position.

Nichole's tag was not up when I had arrived, but it was at that point, so I stopped by the office to talk to her.  Shared my plans for discussing things with my potential linocut student, nothing we hadn't talked about on Saturday.  Mostly I was curious about the drop-in still life event she has me teaching next week.  Had no real idea what I was expected to do.  Now I know a little more. The number of participants is still an unknown (and will remain that way, as people are welcome to drop in), but we now have a plan for how many still life set ups we will have and where they will be.   Other than that, we are leaving things wide open.  This whole even is a new thing for the building, so we really can't do too much planning.