Me And The Devil Blues part 6

 It's unusual for me to go to the Studio three times in one week, but I will likely miss a day next week with a doctor's appointment, and besides, I want to see what this print looks like.  Plus, on the news yesterday we were reminded that Christmas is only two weeks away, and I've got to get going on this year's cards.  So up there I went this morning.

I started with the new Robert Johnson block, doing a textless one.  First time printings are always the most difficult, and it didn't help that there is a lot of black in this one.  Nevertheless, I started with that today.  Results were not great.  I saw evidence of a slight shift of the print on the block, and knew that continuing was pointless.  I did get the whole thing printed, if not fully black in all the areas, and the good news is that I think the image is fine.  I'll clean up a few spots that took unwanted ink, but essentially, the image area is done.  Below is a look at what I started doing:

After that, I decided to go right to the Christmas card.  I had brought some pre-sized bristol board with me, the paper I use for my cards.  I inked up the block, taping the side where I knew the back started.  The first paper shifted on the block, but I realized this was due to the awkward way I was trying to hold it.  I changed the position of the block for the next proof and it worked out fine.  When I was done, I had 5 good proofs I can use.  Carefully packed them for transport and took them home, where I will play with color until I get it right.  If all goes well, I'll still have 5 good ones to work with, but I'll need at least 7 to distribute, so it looks like I need to print a few more next week.  However, it looks like I will be on time to have one to post here on Christmas Day, and to give out locally.  If I get more done next week, I'll have enough for everyone who is expecting one, ideally before Christmas.

Me And The Devil Blues part 5

 I was excited to get up to the Studio this morning and finish this block.  I knew all I had left was the last line of text, and that was shorter than the line I did last time.  And as expected, it didn't take very long to do that, and the accreditation at the other end.  The remainder of the block, below the text, also went quicker than expected.   Results can be seen below:

Next time I print it and see what I have.  If all goes well, the image and lyrics are fine and all I need to do is work on getting a good proof to hang in a show.

Since the above didn't take much time, I decided to continue working on my Christmas card block.  Cutting out all the shapes took a little longer than I expected for such a small block, but I managed to finish it today.  Now all that needs is to be printed and colored.  Near as I can tell, it looks about right, but it is a somewhat abstract image, so it is hard to tell until I try coloring it.  Got my first card in the mail the other day, so I guess I better get going on this.

Me And The Devil Blues part 4

 Having finished (for now) the image area of the print, I knew that today I would begin with the text at the bottom of the print.  I had previously redone the lettering, so it was just a matter of cutting them out.  As I always tell people who are shocked at my ability to do this, cutting out a backwards letter is no more difficult than cutting out a forwards letter- it's just a shape to go around.   I finished the top line fairly quickly, and decided that doing the second line would take more time than I wanted to be there today, so I moved on to work some more on this year's holiday card.  I had started drawing it at home, but I fixed a few parts of the drawing that needed it, and cut out the margin around the piece.  So far my glued on piece of wood is holding on as desired.  Of course I have no pictures of the card to show you yet, but there is an image of my other block below:

One thing I did notice today was that I seemed to cut a lot of "Y" shapes out, so I went back and looked at that first line.  All but one word had a "Y" in it- "you may bury my body down by".  This doesn't affect the print at all, but it's just something I noticed.  Only one "Y" in the whole second line of text.

Me And The Devil Blues part 3

 I didn't need to look at anything on the internet this time- everything was either already on the block, or would be found in the Studio.  I cleared off my table and got to work.

First thing I did was pull out some older prints and blocks.  Some of what I wanted to fix today was based on previous work, and I knew all this was there in the room.  The two figures I have about to get on the bus are based on the two figures from the earlier Love in Vain print.  Are they the same people?  I don't know.  I leave it up to the viewers to decide.  

The background borrows a bit from the most recent boardwalk print, and those bushes that are behind the seated figures.  For these I pulled out the block itself, rather than look at the finished print.  Those earlier bushes were colored, but these in the new print will be black and white.  However, I think this same idea will work here.  I'll find out when I print it.

For the rest I just went with the block drawings, correcting a few things as I went, fixing them with pencil before cutting them.  What I got done today was the two figures, the exit sign, the curbs and sewer grate, and all that background.   If I need to make any more changes to the image area, I'll figure it out after I try printing it.  Results can be seen below:

One more thing I did before leaving was to redo the lettering on the song lyrics below the image.  This involved adding a word (verified by listening to the song a few more times online) and cutting a little between the two lines of text.  My plan is to start working on that text the next time I am there.  Experience tells me it will take two more visits to finish cutting the block.  

Me And The Devil Blues part 2

Not my usual day to go in the Studio, but I had nothing else to do today, so I decided to take the ride up there and advance my latest block a little bit.  Much of the drawing had already happened, but I did take the time to fix a few things in pencil first before cutting them out.  What I have done so far is the bus, a white stripe on the pavement (representing a white line on the road), some of the plants on the ground and in the background, the homemade crucifix on the grave, and the pole that the exit sign is attached to.  

The bus is based on two Greyhound buses of the 1950's, found on the internet.  I put aspects of both into the bus that I made.  I grew up in a place where buses are quite common, part of NJ Transit, and these buses travel all over.  I used to take some to and from high school, before a van was set up to transport the kids from Bloomfield.  However, out in the midwest (where this print seems to take place). there were no local buses, just Greyhound and other distant bus lines that took you far away.  (that Johnson mentions Greyhound in the song itself makes using one even more imperative)  And the only passenger train line we had out there was Amtrak, which stopped in town overnight, during a break in all the long freight trains that occupied those tracks of the Illinois Central and Gulf the rest of the time.  (meanwhile, we have lots of trains around here as well, including one that stopped near one of the colleges I worked at and another that stopped near a college I graduated from) As a result, those in the Carbondale area didn't go anywhere until they were old enough to drive and/or own a car.  As I discovered working with some Girl Scouts, going to the mall was considered a special treat. unlike here in Jersey where a bus could get you there if you couldn't take a car.

The plants are all borrowed from previous prints.  I've cut all these shapes before, so I figure I can do it again.  Some are now cut, and some aren't done yet, but I know what will go there, and have done it before.  Below is the image of where it stands so far:

To take the photograph, I moved a whole bunch of Molly's recently printed towels off my portable tack board.   We had some possible plans to get together this weekend for more beer and art talk, but the never happened.  I was in there process of putting the towels back when she came in.  Mostly it was to pick up all those towels, destined for a possible sale event, so I didn't need to put them all back.  She also brought up the beer thing, saying it didn't happen, but she came in and did more work on her towels, which I had noticed as I moved them.  (her water based ink was all dry, so I wasn't worried about any mess when moving them)  She took off, I wished her luck, and locked the place up.