Cross Roads Blues part 6

No appointments on my calendar for today, and the weather was not terrible, so I decided to go to the Studio today to do more work on my latest block.  Packed both good and student tools, as well as my rock/pop book of discs.  Got there and found the lot almost empty, something I rarely see, but I don't always go up there on a Wednesday.  But the gate was open, and there were a few cars in the lot, so I figured it was safe to go into the building.   A few more colorful paintings and drawings (or maybe mixed media things) were up on the walls. Better, but still some room to fill up.

Once I got my business settled, I got to work.  Started with my copied disc of Marah and their album Kids in Philly, a gift from my friend Doug a few years ago after I asked him a musical question involving a song (couldn't remember the name of the band or the album, just a few lines from a song.   If you want to know more, I wrote about it on this blog back in early 2023.  I got out the block I cut the margin on the other day, but this time worked on the image.  Back when I used to teach 2D Design and often started with a fine point black dot drawing (some called it pointillist, but that style was all about color, and this project was always about value and nothing else) I always advised the students to start with a black area, so it would be easier to handle all the gray tones later.  However, with woodcut, dealing with the same three colors (black, white, gray) I generally start with the broad white areas, and do the grays later.  Today was no exception.  I cut all the big white areas in the main vertical element that runs right up the center of the composition.  This includes the whole arm and the hand, and parts of the bottle that the hand is holding.  This was done with a variety of gouges. knives, and chisels.   When the first disc ended, I put on my live Smithereens collection, a live in a studio radio performance from 1989 that you can read about on this blog back in 2019.  This was because yesterday on the radio I heard another song by the band, one that I have on a different live collection (a six song disc), though ironically, that song does not appear on the much longer live collection that I have access to right now.  Results of today's cutting session can be seen below:

There was a knot under the surface veneer, but I don't think this will be an issue with rolling it up with ink.  But if it is, a little tape will take care of it.  Next time I start with the other large white piece, one going in a diagonal across and behind the arm, then I'll figure it out from there.

I also spent a little time looking at the first proof and block of my Blood Draw piece, thinking about what changes I'd make before the next proof.  No cutting here today, but I did think of a few things.  

A lot to clean up today, but I got it all done.   The music was done, so I headed home, stopping at the supermarket on the way home.

Update Something I had intended to put in the blog post but left out.  There is a relationship between the two main elements in this piece, the arm and the bottle.  I often put bottles, usually wine, either full or empty, in my still life set-ups, and sometimes students ask why.  Two answers- part is that bottles work for free and keep still, but the main reason is that I see a relationship, and will tell my students that if they can learn to draw a bottle, then they can learn to draw a forearm, and if they can learn to draw that, then they can learn to draw any body part, and if they can learn how to draw a body, then they can learn to draw anything.  Same thing for shoes. too, and I still stand by that.