Saturday, February 15, 2014

Linocut in Progress: Or perhaps we should say FINISHED!

I was hopeful that Step 9 would be final pass for the cormorant lino, but hey. This is me we're talking about.

Cormorant linocut: Step 9

 I liked it, but felt that the sense of depth could get one more boost if I applied an additional dark to the right side of the image. (Those closest rocks.)

Last color inked.
So along came Step 10, a transparent black... just enough to goose those forward rocks into a bit more detail and bring them forward.

Cormorant linocut: Step 10
Yep. I think that pushed the birds back a skosh. That last dark looks REALLY dark in the photo, but the ink is wet and shiny and I think the camera just wants that contrast. Which suggests that getting a good shot of this piece is going to be challenging. We'll see once it's dry.

I'm considering "Telling Fish Tales" for the title... because every time I look at the interaction between the birds I can imagine the center fellow describing the one that got away. ("It was THIS big!")

I have my own story to tell with arms spread wide... mostly to accommodate the schlepping of boxes. After far too many months in limbo I finally found a place to live here in Salida... and I've spent most of this past week moving. Again. (Essentially the fourth move since October.)

Unfortunately the expense of the new space means I'll have to give up my lovely studio here and move back into 80 fewer square feet. Ooph. Gonna be tight. But I'll be happy to be all under one roof again and able to live with work in progress. Literally. It will also feel good to be unloading more extraneous stuff. I did a big purge before the first move, but since it looks like it won't have been quite big enough I can look forward to running a little leaner yet.

It will be a couple of weeks before I'm completely resettled, but knowing that the end of limbo is near helps a lot!

And never fear! I already know what the next lino will be... hoping to get it drawn up this week when I can't stand to look at another box.

7 comments:

  1. This looks great. You captured the cormorant silhouette/shapes perfectly.
    I love the varied front and the dark birds. Very nice. As always the scale is so hard to read. This looks big.
    Nice work as always.

    ReplyDelete
  2. love the title idea, it does go really well with the image :) and 10 steps is really small for you ;)

    ReplyDelete
  3. This is in my top 2 favorite Sherrie York reductions. I love how the hills just go on and on. You still inspire me with each print. Glad to hear you have a new home. No place like it. It feels good to purge. Amazing how hard it can be but how little we really need or use. xxoo

    ReplyDelete
  4. Beautiful Sherrie. Good luck with the move.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks, everyone...

    Yes, Andrew, it's biggish: 12" x 18". I quite like working this size.. it has a presence but is still manageable by hand.

    The household is mostly moved... I still have furniture in storage that will need to find new homes. A whole 'nuther project.

    I've started to take all the "administrative" bits out of the studio, so computer and files are getting sorted out in the new space, too. It's like one of those little puzzles with one open square: Just keep shuffling the pieces around until the image is cohesive. ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  6. I work in a very small space, and it has it's pros and cons. That being said, I have a lot less equipment than you do so I hope you work out the cozy details without too much stress.

    This print turned out great! I can see what you mean about that last black addition pushing the cormorants back. It looks fantastic!

    Wade

    ReplyDelete
  7. Sherrie, this print is beautiful. It really captures that haze and glare of being on the ocean as the fog burns off. The colors are wonderful.

    ReplyDelete

Linocut in Progress: The Third Act

Time to wrap up this linocut ! And we are wrapping at warp speed (see what I did there?)... because there are deadlines. Exhibition deadline...