Linocut reduction, algarrobo and hens, part 2

blue and gray goes on

day 2 of my linoreduction, which is starting to be called "somebody has to be the boss" was a real knuckle down day and get on with it...... first thing in the morning, I rolled up the bright blue and the soft gray in one go....following on yesterdays several colours experiment, that I quite liked... of course, I should have realised that you would see them through, duhhh.... sometimes printmaking makes me laugh, you think you've got it.....hmmmm... sounds awfully like golf doesn't it?

third run through the press

so in a bit of a tizzy about seeing the colours, what do to but revert to good old inking up the whole plate.... well, not so much a tizzy, as a wanting to take advantage of the light green in many places.
As a good little artist, I should of course have coloursampled etc.... to see how things go together, if they cover right, if they blend good, and all that... but I am a bad little artist in that respect, I just go for it and correct as I am printing, I kind of like that.... it teaches me something new every time, every print, every colour , all stored away in that mental log book of mine, (see part one for that ramble) for future use.....

the RED

inking up the plate in red, felt like I saw it for the first time

 most of the time, when doing reduction printing, somewhere in the middle, I loose heart, it does not look like anything, it does not feel right, I doubt my ability to make the right colours come true, and all that stuff..... but weirdly, and thankfully, rolling up the plate in red, it kind of revealed itself, showed itself to me for the first time, and I thought DARN..... if I had inked it up once in red before I cut away the light green leaves, I could have pulled some prints only in red, as it had a very finished look, and would have felt good at that stage as a free standing print.... but TOO LATE! the leaf stems on the cut away light green leaves just looked silly..... arrgh

mid green goes on

and yes, here it is...mid way doubts hmmmm, naw.... don't know..... really?
My only advice at this stage is: STOP THINKING, and just do........ there is no other way past this point..... I call it my "believe in miracles stage"  in a reduction print.....
oh, and the good registrations were going faster than Fosters at an Aussie barbie..... not so fun! Think 4 colours in a long day might have been to blame!
Tomorrow is a new day, and tomorrow is finish day......:o)) See you then!