Boardwalk Days part 31

 Labor Day is passed, so some would say that we begin what is known as "local summer", when those of us who actually live around here full time can do all the things that tourists keep us from doing for the summer season.  Parking is now available.  Restaurants and bars are not so crowded.  Fewer cars on the road than I am used to seeing. (lots of construction, though, as it is a very nice day today, and all the outdoor projects that were put on hold are now being done) Stopped at the store on the way up to pick up a few non-perishables, and then on to the Studio by 10:30.  Brought the rock/pop book of discs with me today, and from that selected a home burned cd with two Beatles psychedelic albums- Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and Magical Mystery Tour.  The latter album actually was created for American release only, but it filled a need so well it became one of official disc/albums when they finally started putting them on disc.  I've probably written about this before, and by now you should know about these albums, so no need to talk about them here. Most of what I heard today was recorded before I was born, and one song was worked on the day I was born (information about the most documented band in history).  

My plan for today was to continue work on my boardwalk print, so I got that out.  While still at home, I looked up some photos of the space I had taken quite a few years ago, and made sure to bring my sketchbook with me to have those references as well.  Wanted to do some drawing first.

I hadn't dealt with the paver plaza yet on either side, and that was part of what I needed to complete that left side panel.  So I redrew some of those stones, based on the photos I had.  I also redrew some of the figures I had on the boardwalk, using the sketches I had done as a guide.  With that done, I moved on to some carving.  I cut out all of the pavers in the plaza, and the first section of the boardwalk.  (I had already decided that the layers of light and dark in my photos of the space would be handled with color in the final version, so I'll just cut them all out and not worry about texture.  Below is an image of the section I worked on today:

I will probably thin those lines showing the edges of the pavers (will look more like the actual space and my photos of it), but for now I left everything as I cut it.  I've drawn those lines three times now and it's getting hard to erase all that, so I just went ahead and cut it while I know what is good and what is wrong.

I also brought home the block from my latest Robert Johnson print.  I may do some drawing improvement there before I cut anything, and it's easier to work from my reference photo on a computer than on my camera, and it's easier to bring the block home than to bring my computer to my Studio.  You'll see that one next time I cut it.