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Working on colorways and carving plans.

I might start carving over the 4th long weekend.  8-]

Rocks in Pastel

Rocks in pastel.

Dino-Cat-Moth

I like this better.  More motion.  And they both lose out.  ;->

Adding a garden background.

Perhaps the dino-bird will be jumping up to get the moth.

Paler garden so I can see elements better.  I won't carve much of a garden ~ I'll pastel color later.

Early Bird & Cat Sketch

Early bird and a cat squaring off over lunch.

In the garden with grass and plantings (likely agapanthus, my favorite alien flower).  Plantings go diagonally across the back.

Maybe some greenery in the foreground or the mid-ground.

More Pastel Play

Bookkeeper

Bookkeeper getting more detailed.  The detail I couldn't get into the etching.  Also I'm really liking the color.

Paleo-Unicorn

Paleo-Unicorn is a failed print ~ the hand was all smeary.  But adding color makes the whole ting dynamic.  Color doesn't come across bright enough, nor does the gold and silver shimmer, but it's rather nice.  Tina told me to stop, it was done.  ;-]

Bookkeeper with Pastel

Bookkeeper

Pastels and pan pastels on the intaglio etching Bookkeeper.  In secondary colors.  Tina had me add more darks and a redder purple in the medium shadows.  Better.

Early Bird ~ WIP

Early Bird woodcut with Pan Pastels.  First pass.

Knight's Tale ~ Canterbury Tails ~ Pan Pastel

Scan.  On printmaking paper.  Nice tooth for Pan Pastels.  Not quite finished I think.

Toothy Paper

Toothy printmaking paper takes Pan Pastels better than sketch paper.  (Kind of a duh, but nice to know it pans out.)  Richer color on the toothy paper.

Top: printmaking paper; bottom: sketch paper.

Toothy paper is richer for taking more pastel.  Sketch paper looks more like a a book illo.  Interesting.

Knight's Tale ~ Pan Pastels

Pan Pastel over woodcut ~ Canterbury Tails ~ The Knight's Tale.  I like the composition but I've never been happy with the print, burnt sienna w/ black tapped in.

So I added pastel.  I like it as a first try.  I'll work on the color next time, but at least now it has depth.

Early Bird and Pan Pastels

My next pan pastel project is more complicated.  I always intended to carve a second background block for my Early Bird.  Now I'm thinking I'll add a garden view behind the guy with pastels.  I'm googling garden scenes to spur a composition.

Tina is fond of paths and trees.  Maybe I can get something like that in the pic.  

I'll be coloring the bird brain too.  I expect he'll be rather colorful.

Paleo-Ponies ~ PanPastel on Ghost Monoprint

Latest PanPastel experiment ~ ghost monoprint.

Horses were barely visible; background wholly lacking.  So it was a whole-cloth opportunity.  Horses look good, but the rock face still needs more work.  Striations and fissures in the rock.  the sort of thing I usually carve, but am unfamiliar with drawing.  Odd that.  ;- p

Metallics

Playing with my metallics ~ PanPastels.  They shimmer but that doesn't come across in a still pic.  Maybe I'll take a movie with my phone.

It doesn't.

Here's another one:

This one's a scan.  Still no shimmer.  Oh well.  It's purdy in person.  ;- ]

PanPastel Woodcuts

Two more pan pastel woodcut prints.

Paleo-Basilisk, my cranky chicken.

Paleo-Catfish.  Still not liking the background.

Paleo-Dragon PanPastel 2

Today's pan-pastel paleo-dragon.

More pastely.  I like this one better than last week's.  Also I discovered it's a crisper print to begin with.  I started with a taupey-gray print.  Tina had me lighten up the cave opening 'cuz it was competing with the dragon.

I picked up some more pastels.  I need a couple more.  Of course I do.  ;- j

PanPastels and Paleo Dragons

Colored a bw Paleo-Dragon print with PanPastels.  Learned a lot.

I used 3 colors:  yellow, red & purple.  I'd like something darker and something lighter to play with.

This is more or less what it looked like before I colored it.  It was a little more tan and lighter.

Loscon41

Woodcuts ~ and tapestries ~ at Loscon41.

Another set of pics:

Cards Came 8-]

Vista Print thumbprint image

Yay!  Cards came back from Vista Print and they're great!  Thumbprint doesn't do them justice.  I can scan one in, but basically it looks like the woodcut.

"Christmas Snack" for Schuyler House 2014

I ordered 100 blank cards for my growing collection.  One of these days I'll remember to offer them on etsy in time for folks to buy them for xmas.  I have 4 different cards available now.  ;- j

I'm really pleased with this approach.  I carved a black and white image ~ my wheelhouse ~ and then added pastels afterwards.  Works best with a print that isn't saturated.  A lighter print than I'd be happy with.  Worked great for the xmas cards 'cuz I could saturate the colors on the scan before I submitted it.  Worked great.

I'll have to see if  I can add pastels to a darker print now that it's had time to dry thoroughly.  I'm liking the pastel approach.  8-]

Ready to Upload to Vista Print

This is the image we'll upload to Vista Print shortly.  I framed up a print for the Loscon Art Show this weekend.  It was nicely positioned.

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: