Cross Roads Blues part 10

 Having decided that there was not much to do on the latest block until  I took a proof and saw what I had, today was the day to pull that proof.  I had my new roll of masking tape, plus the ink and paper I had acquired recently.  No snow, no federal holiday.  The paper was already in the Studio, the ink in my go-bag, and the tape at home.  I made a couple of stops, then got up to the Studio a little past 11:00.

For music I had brought my book of Jazz/Blues discs, and from that I had selected Gil Scott-Heron's The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, which is sort of a greatest hits collection from his first two albums.  Previously written about on this blog back on September of 2021.  My reason was simple- earlier in the day when my mother had morning talk shows on, a guest also had the name Scott, and it reminded me of the one I had.  Also had some office business, but I decided to do that on the way out.

First step was to prepare some paper, which I wanted to do while my hands were still nice and clean.  Then I used my new tape, covering over the margins on the block before I started inking it.  Used some of my recently purchased ink for the inking.  Despite the very cold weather today, the ink rolled out quickly, and the block inked as expected.  I removed the large pieces of tape I used to cover my margins, and had to put more tape to cover things that took ink and weren't supposed to, such as the arm, and some incidental stuff on the bottle label.  Took one of my pieces of clean paper and started the process of hand printing.  

I must have inked it well the first time, as I need to only do a second roll on a few spots.  Results of that first proof can be seen below:

I don't know how I feel about this one yet.  I'm not sure if there is much else I can cut with this one, but I'll think about it over the next several days.  I left the block there, and decided to leave the proof as well, since it was still wet.  I took a photo to bring home to look at, and maybe I'll bring home the proof in a few days.  

The first disc ended, but I still had to clean up my ink and tools, so I put on a short one from the ones I left in the Studio in case Molly wanted to hear them.   What I listened to today was something I hadn't heard in a long time, an untitled disc from Tim Aanensen, given out at a display and open house he held at his parents house a few blocks away in Ocean Grove.  He searched high and low for suitable Scandinavian treats to serve at the event.  I knew Tim from our old critique group, where he was one of the original members.  We once collaborated on piece, which was exhibited.  Another thing he offered that day were discs he had burned on his computer of his own music, accompanying himself of acoustic guitar, sometimes the vocals double tracked.  No title, just his name and a little bird drawing (a common element in his artworks). Because he said the disc was for me and Molly, I left it at the Studio when I took most of my music collection home.  As far as this 20 minute disc goes, my favorite song, both then and now, is one called "Suchness", which has the most interesting lyrics and music of the set.  Take me at my word.  A bird is not just a bird.  A lot to unpack there.