Fixing some problems

 

One thing that I expected from seeing the images, is that I could see the flaws in the prints.  Every artist is the first to see the problems in their own work.  Some were known to even go into museums with brushes to fix some issues they had seen in their own paintings hanging there.  Some were caught.  Since I haven't turned these in yet, now is the time for me to fix a few things, before the next printing.  

I had all the blocks in my Studio, so I didn't have to carry them in.  As I expected, they were almost dry, but I still did a little blotting first.  Not much ink came off.  Next was measuring.  I found my original instructions, and it called for 11" x 14", but the other day I wrote that I had done 10" x 14".  Which was right?  And what had I actually done?  I used a wooden yardstick in my car (much lighter than my metal one), and accurate enough.  The two vertical pieces were as I was supposed to make, but the horizontal piece (the train) was a bit long.  Don't know how that happened.  I don't think I can change that in the next printing, so it may end up that way in the photo I send.  I will let Tom know and if he wants that one in particular, either he'll have to take an extra large one, or I'll have to redo that one quickly.  Used my tools, and looked both at the wood blocks and the resulting prints (which had been in the drying rack) to judge what needed to be done, based on what I had seen in my photos of the first proofs.  

Actually started with that one, Love in Vain.  There were a few blobs on ink that resulted in dark spots on the first proof, okay for this test image, but I don't want those in the final version.  Lines that had been cut, were handled either by the same v-gouge used to cut them, or in some cases made thicker with a u-gouge. Used the latter especially to lighten my two figures, both the faces and occasionally some of the clothing and other things they had near them.  Didn't spend much time on that one, as it may not even be used directly.  

Took a break to go wash my hands and see the people in the office.  Most of that was to talk about class related stuff.  Like, where was my missing check, and would I have any classes coming up?  Since the old check never turned up, a new one will be issued.  As for classes, nothing right away (fine, as I am still a little sick, and I could use the break), but maybe in the early spring.  Kaitlyn was all in favor of woodcut being a class, and some of last year's students requested it, but as I warned Jeanne, a lot of people talk about taking woodcut, but many are never heard from again.  And there is the issue of sharing tools in this age of Covid.  So that remains to be seen.  

Back to my work.  Next I dealt with Walkin' Blues.  Just a few changes to faces, a little to clothing, but that was all that was needed.  More time to work on the block that needed the most, 32-20 Blues.  Three things I had picked out to work on were the wall behind the subject (above the bed), the floor next to the bed, and the blanket on top of the bed.  All of this was done with the small u-gouge, widening the smaller grooves that were already there, making these areas all lighter in tone.  The idea is to create more separation, and to improve the balance of value in the image.  Also did some to there figure's face, and a few isolated spots.  

The blocks all look better, so the next thing will be to print them. That will wait until next week, as I expect to be busy this week with some other projects.  As to what I did today, not much on the blocks can be seen easily, so here's a photo of some of what I took off the blocks:

Note the black ink found on this little pieces of wood.   That's what you get from cutting inked blocks.  

Took care of some holiday related errands, then I headed home.  Lot of traffic today, but I got there in time to eat lunch at a reasonable hour.