32-20 Blues part 11

 One more print to go in my plan to pull proofs of all prints in the Robert Johnson series, which was my 32-20 Blues print, which was done as part of my first batch, and printed for exhibition back in 2022.  However, that one did not include the lyrics, and at this point I expect to need one like that.  In fact, this was one of the prints where I had never printed the lyrics, so I inked and printed those a few weeks ago.  This time I planned to print the whole thing.

I knew I had everything I would need, but that didn't mean I wouldn't have something new.  In this case it was the ink.  When printing images for my former student's (and mine it turned out) show in Asbury Park, I had her order 2 cans of ink.  We only used one in making the prints, and not even all of that, and I have been using the rest of that can in doing the other proofs I have made recently.  However, last week when I pulled the third one, I used the last of that old can, so today I opened up the other can.  Same brand, so I expect the black will be the same.  (this can't be assumed otherwise, as black isn't always black, and so I had my 2D students buy two of the same marker for the first project, as they were likely to need a second pen anyway, and this made it more likely that the colors would match)  So one of the first things I did in the Studio was open the new can.

I had wax paper to cover the new open ink, and generic vaseline to coat the top of the can, which makes it both airtight and keeps ink from drying it shut.  As for music, no Molly today so I had my choice.  One of the morning shows had Hank Azaria as a guest, and he was doing his imitation Springsteen (a charity thing) character, so I decided to listen to some Bruce this morning in the Studio.  And since the song he did on TV was from the Born in the USA album, I decided to start with my copy of the Volume II disc, which has several tunes from that album, though not the one I saw performed today.  It's on this disc that I have albums from what I consider Bruce's American period, which I consider to be influential on some of my own artwork.  With new ink, and old everything else, I got started.  Results can be seen below:

As with other recent proofs, this may be the best version of the image that I have ever produced, in addition to being the only copy of this one I have with the words that inspired it.  This is probably my least favorite of all the ones in the series, but it is still a good print, and something I don't mind exhibiting with my name on it.  The one home made and home burned disc was enough for me to pull the proof and get everything cleaned up.  After that I put the finished proof in my rack to dry, took a blotter proof of the block to help it dry, before putting that in the rack as well. Now I have at least one copy each of all 6 prints with the lyrics on them, though two are trimmed and have tape hinges for framing.   I need to check with Tom soon and see what he wants and when he wants it.