I’ve successfully printed my first multi-block relief print!! I’ve been “block printing” (if that’s what you’d call screwing around with a gauge and some easy-cut rubber) since I was four years old, but the only multi-color technique I’ve ever used was doing reduction prints. Reductions prints are where you do one session of carving, print the lightest color of the print on all the papers, then do another session of carving on the same block, and print a darker color on top of the already printed papers, and so-on until you’ve printed all the colors you want. The Japanese used numerous blocks for each color, so I finally tested myself with the Queen and 2 colors– red & black. I’m pretty happy with the turn-out, although I wish I’d done 3 blocks, one pink, so the flamingo didn’t look like a buzzard. That’s still possible though.
I’m now working on the concept for my next project… reading about Lewis Carrol & such. He was a weirdo.
It’s Back to School for little Miss Me. I commute one hour to Durango each Tuesday and Thursday to be amongst the pot heads and slackers, and by the time I get to drive home I can hardly make it. Pregnant lady needs a nap. I’ve had mixed feelings about Fort Lewis, otherwise known as Fort Leisure, over the past three years I’ve been attending. The first year I only had one friend who didn’t even go to school, and I was a tad bit miserable. This last year I still didn’t have any friends, but some of my general education courses were so stimulating that I found myself sweating-balls from excitement at the end of class.
Over the past week I’ve been cracked out on the above drawing for my independant media art class, woodcut printing. If it weren’t for this class, and being able to work each Mon, Wed, Fri, I may have to drop out of school. If all goes according to plan, I’ll be completing four prints by December. This next week I’ll begin carving, and hopefully I’ll record some key steps here.
by Toulouse-Lautrec (“Dans le Lit”), 1893
