I was so good at procrastinating today.
I cleaned up the studio and put new paper on my tables. I moved where I was working (not that I needed to, but more probably because it was something to do other than work on the print). In order to move working areas I needed an extension cord. I had to go borrow one. I took some pictures of the finished studio cabinets (Darrell had hung the last of the drawers that morning).
Finally, I realized what I was doing - avoiding getting started on the printing part. So, after we went to the grocery store and got some lunch, I got out my watercolors and started working on the colors. I had picked up a second mocha while we were out, so I was a-buzzing. I had lots of energy! [I usually only have one espresso in the morning, and never have coffee after lunch.]
The colors still aren't what I envision in my head, but I'm going for it.
The yellow was the color I wanted so I started with that - Aureolin yellow. It's kind of otherwordly, greenish and warm. I like that, but I wanted it to be very pale. It ended up not being pale, of course. I just got carried away trying to get a consistent coverage. Oh, well. It will all work out.
I have a weird mixture of very good tools and very cheap tools. I have nice brushes that I bought from McClains's. But I have yet to buy a nice baren. The good ones are very expensive. I haven't given myself a good reason. It's at the top of my list though. And I didn't notice that the bamboo covering was torn on the edge until I was ready to start. I figured I had better just start in after all my earlier procrastinating.
It actually went fairly well, I was pleased with the results. The real test will be with the next block, trying to get everything registered properly. That is the part I've been trying to avoid.
Did I mention that I went with Poplar wood. It was a plank Darrell had in his extra wood pile. He flattened for me, and it's a good thing he had to leave it long to go through the wide belt sander, because I ended up using both ends. I enjoyed carving it. The grain didn't give me any problems, it didn't fight against me. I could carve in any direction with no difficulty. There's not a lot of grain pattern, which means there probably won't be any grain showing in the print. Can't have it both ways.
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