Pastel on Light Print

It had to sit for a day so I could appreciate it.  Right after I printed I wasn't sure I even had one good print.  Typical.  ;- j  This is a slightly lighter print, but the pastel really makes it pop.

And on a dark print:

Print is too dark for my taste, and is difficult to color with pastel.  Cray-pas can do it (on the brown) but it isn't a smooth-looking.  I can see if more drying will help the ink.

And on a "perfect" print.  Still harder to color.

Interesting experiment.  No wonder Belinda Del Pesco colors pale and ghost prints.  ;- ]  Much easier.

I have a couple more lighter prints I can play with.

Here's another one:

Paper

Broke down some more paper ~ Rives BFK this time.  I'll print on it and see if I like it better than the Arches 88.

I'll be adding pastel to the prints from yesterday (if they're dry yet).

Playing with Pastels

I printed out an image and played with cray pas and pastels.  I like the pastels better ~ finer control.  I'll color up a bw test print and see how that looks.

Pastel on an actual test print.  I had to switch to a brighter red to overpower the black ink.  Ditto gingerbread brown.

Now to print on Arches 88.

Pastel plays into my need for clean lines.  Tapping in color while printing is just too messy for my finicky nature.  ;- j

Bill measured his scanner bed ~ just about the right size (but that's ok, I already accounted for the xmas card being more narrow and long, and I already plan to lose some from the top and bottom).

Coming along.  8-]

First Test Prints

Not liking it at this stage.  Typical but not fun.

Test prints on sketch paper.  Tapping in is proving to be irritating.  I may try something else:  adding color afterwards.  Works for Belinda.  ;- }  I know, I'm not Belinda.

Breaking Down Paper

I've broken down the paper ~ Arches 88 ~ for a smooth finish.  If I decide to play with watercoloring afterward, I'll switch to BFK Rives for texture.

In the meantime, it's black and white ~ and tapped in color.

Slightly narrowed faux print, closer to the xmas card shape

Ready to Test Print

Looks done to me.  Ready for a test print (then any recarving necessary).  Tho I was pretty good at not carving too fine of lines this time.

Mirrored bw faux print.  Need to scan it (this is a photo).

Back to Carving

Back to carving.  Lots of fiddly bits.

Mirrored bw faux print.

Time for a break.  Not much left to do.  I'm really liking this bw version.  More my preferred style.  I'll tap color in (or wipe areas clean and watercolor them later...).  ;- .  Lots of ideas.

Carving the Tree

Working on the greenery today.

Taking a stretch break.  Coming along nicely.

Carving Wood Grain

Working on the table wood grain.  Enhancing what's there.

Flash pic.  Shows more grain.

Sketching in branches.

Flash pic.

Carving

Carving the rim.

Carving the steam.  And my chop.

Mirrored, bw.  Taking a break.

More Carving

More carvity carve.

Time for a break.

Back on Track

Sidelined with the fighter poem book, but now I'm back on track with the xmas card.  I'll be getting back to carving the block today.

Carving finally.  Waiting for the phone to send a pic to my email.

Time for lunch.

Xmas Card

Cartoon transferred.  Carving begins.

Carvity-carve.

Time for a break.

BW ~ More Variations

Coloring a print of a bw/color.

This one came out looking a bit green in the tree.  Gives me an idea.  What if I do 2 blocks, one with just the tree in green, one w/o the tree in bw with color tapped in?

Still fighting with the concept of color when my affinity is for bw.

I can do a foreground and a background block.  Foreground is everything but tree and table.  Background is table (red?) and tree (green).  BW foreground gets tapped in color.

B&W Variations

B&W with red ornaments and candy cane and brown gingerbread castle.  Rest is simply b&w, in spite of the blue cast.  Table might have wooden texture.  Color tapped in.

Another idea:  strictly b&w with white areas to be water-colored afterward.  (Actually the original idea.)

Cartoon Reversed (Carve Me)

Be sure to carve the reversed image!  Castle should be backwards.

Trim on the Rim

Not bad.  I like the holly.  Ornaments have to be smaller.  I'm liking it.

Sketching Composition

Zeroing in on the composition and the elements.  A couple pencil sketches w/ crayon.

Another possible element is a xmasy trim around the plate ~ holly and berries.

Can't seem to stop messing.

This is with a yellow trim on the plate and a yellow xmas ball.

More Mug Sketches

Pencil sketch w/ colored pencil.  Thought I could darken the color in Paint Shop, but I think I need to color darker (or switch to crayon).

Plate to big.

Same sketch, reworked.

And again.

More Xmas Cookie Doodles

Another Colorway

I'm liking the hint of a tree in the background (ornaments?).  I'm also liking the cartoon-like tilted mug.  That and the steam show movement.

And something more classic.

SH Xmas Card 2014

First sketch.

Variations to follow.

Into the New Year

Two weeks into the new year all ready.  I've been sidelined from printing by the Muse.  I'm working on my trunk novel.  But when I get back to printerly things, I want to tackle monoprints again.

I've looked into Akua inks lately and I think I can do some viscosity prints with them.  My favorite!  Last time I looked at Akua I wasn't impressed, but I am now.  I got some inks for xmas and I'll pick up a few more supplies and see what I can do.  8-]

http://www.akuainks.com/newsletters/newsletterpim.html

Printing Intaglio and Monotypes with Water-Based Inks

http://www.akuainks.com/viscosity-monotype-working

Viscosity Monotype

Booth at Loscon 40 Art Show

The actual booth.  Pretty much followed the layout.  Sold Air Kraken on the last day.  Yay!  Need to get the person's contact info so I can send the provenance.

Air Kraken

Need to quit selling the art off my walls tho.  At least make sure I keep an Air Kraken, as it's a reduction block!