Supermarket Fireworks part 22

Had some available time this morning, and there are always things to be done up at the Studio, so that  is where I went. No company in the Studio today, so I could listen to music as I worked.  Chose one from my library there, Californication by the Red Hot Chili Peppers.  I first knew of the RHCP back in the 80's, when they were considered a wild punk/funk band and were becoming popular in the college radio world, of which I was a part.  Eventually Nirvana brought the college rock world into the popular music world, and this 1999 release was a huge hit.  Hearing the songs so often on local radio is what got me to buy my own copy.  Then as now, I think the rest of the album holds up.

One of my tasks for today was to document some things related to the requested design for a new BAC t-shirt, a follow-up to the first shirt I did for them about 12 years ago.  I'll give the details and images when I am ready to start on it,  which will be after I finish the current block.  I also wanted to talk to Nichole, since the first of the Wednesday night drop-in art events is this week.  I don't have to bring anything except myself, as I am leading the process.  Most of the promotion is through social media, which I have little to do with, but she says the number of interested persons is growing.  How many will show up and pay the small fee to be part of the event remains to be seen.

But my main reason to be there was to work on the latest block.   I had thought I might be finished last week, and inked it up, which revealed a few things that I thought should be fixed before I wasted some good print paper on it.  So I took a few blotter proofs on newsprint to take as much ink as possible off the block, and moved it to my drying rack. I knew that the ink (oil based) would not be completely dry by now, but judged I'd be able to work on it.

The problem that stood out most to me then was the shopping carts, especially the one in the lower right corner, which seemed to be just a mass of black.  Used my small round gouge to remove some wood between the bars, letting some of the white tile show through.  But mostly I was using a V gouge to cut thin lines representing the sides of the cart- verticals, horizontals, and orthogonals, seems I had left a lot out.  The cart further back needed some too, but not nearly as many.  Then I used the same two small gouges to clean up other parts of the block- the cakes, the sparklers, all around the lettering, marks showing up in the white tiles, the cigarette in the NO SMOKING sign, the faces of my two sneaky smokers, etc.  All minor changes, but to me they seem like they will make a big difference.  My hands were black, but soap took care of that.  Had other things to do this afternoon, so for now it's back in the drying rack.  I figure to come in a few hours before the Wednesday class (to get decent parking) which should give me plenty of time to pull a decent proof or two.