Love in Vain part 9

 Another sunny but cold day, which made it a fine day for a Studio session.  I had left some of the materials from yesterday's printing there in the Studio, so I only had to make one trip in this morning, arriving around 11:15.  Had my book of blues discs with me still, so I started with Bob Brozman, his Devil's Slide album.  This is actually the record (which was on the B shelf of my radio station in Virginia for much of my senior year), plus some songs from another album to fill some of the commercial disc space. I was familiar with Brozman from my days as an intern, where the dj I was interning with was doing a jazz show, and was a big fan.  Some of this album is indeed jazz, but it also includes some blues, in fact a song or two from Robert Johnson.   Not the one I was pulling a proof of today.

Once again I tore a piece of Rives Lightweight (my choice of paper for these first proofs) while my hands were still clean, then put out some Outlaw Black ink for the job. I had pulled the other two of my Robert Johnson prints yesterday, leaving me with the one left.  This one differs in that it is a horizontal image, but I had asked Tom if he wanted vertical or horizontal, but he never replied. So he gets some of each, and can decide what he wants. All are the 10" x 14" he requested.  

As I said before, this is one of the more famous of Johnson's songs, if only because it appears in a few versions on some Rolling Stones albums.  Still, it's a good song, some interesting poetry, and one that suited the treatment I was giving it.  If it was a color piece, I would have dealt with the colored lights on the train as mentioned by Johnson, but since I was told it had to be black and white, I came up with a different idea.  I've shown the pencil drawing and cut block in progress, but here is the first proof of the inked print:

I'm of two minds about this one so far.  Some things definitely need to be recut- I'm thinking of the shadows on the faces for sure, and I'll consider more after I've looked at the proof a while.  However, in general I do like the balance of dark and light in the image, this night time scene, which is how I envision this song.  The rail car and the rest of the shadows seem to work.  

My plan is to go back into all three of the Johnson prints when the blocks have dried a little, and make a few minor fixes.  In an emergency, I can send these photos to Tom, examples of what I want to do, but I'd rather send him my fixed prints, even if that means waiting a week or two.