Deer Print part 10

Tomorrow is a very busy day, first day of class, so lots to do from sun up to sun down.  But I wanted to squeeze in a little more time on the deer print, so in the afternoon, amidst some errands, I made a stop in Ocean Grove.  No one around but me, so I put on some music- the Flat Duo Jets, a disc I burned years ago pulling songs from the first 3 albums.  I first learned of the Flat Duo Jets from a newspaper article, borrowed the debut album from the radio station stacks at Montclair State, and made a tape of some songs. Kind of forgot about them until my friend Doug started raving about them.  (they came from the Athens, GA scene that at an earlier time gave birth to REM and the B-52's, plus countless other bands, and it's one of many southern states where Doug has either gone to school or taught at one) After listening to the tape some more, I eventually went out and got the self titled debut album, then the next one (Go Go Harlem Baby) and the next one after that (White Trees). The band is often characterized as psychobilly (a mix of the genres of rockabilly and punk, with a lot of retro-50's trappings) and I've never seen any live performances, but on record they tend to lean toward the rockabilly part of that.  Besides being a band that I like (that mix disc is in my Studio library), I was put in a mood to listen to them by my recent block, which features some large white trees in the middle.  I could have just listened to the music at home, but this way I got some art done as well.

Several songs later, Molly showed up to get some work done- not her usual schedule, but no problem and she got to work on more screen printing. Meanwhile, I kept working on my block.  I did the two large shrubs, then the two deer, and then began on the ground all around them.  As I said before, all the shapes and textures I put in were just to remind me what I needed to do, but not something I was necessarily going to follow exactly.  As I cut, I listened to the cool tunes, looked at the drawn and painted shapes on the wood, looked at my small image of the original print, and brought it all together.  So yes, some drawing with the tool.  When my disc ended, it seemed like a good time to call it a day.

So far it's what I expected.  I won't know for sure what I have until I ink this thing up, but I won't do that until I'm done cutting, which will likely be next week.  What remains is some of the ground, a little in the lower left corner, and much of the right foreground.  I got quite a bit done in a little over an hour, so I feel good about what is to come. and excited to see what is to come.  As I told Molly the other day, all the big decisions were made decades ago, so all I have to do for this one is copy an image that I know works.