Filler

As my big Maple branch/seed/print is taking a long time, I need to take frequent breaks or I'll lose interest.

These are two watercolor doodles done on my badly-sized Japanese paper (and indeed they were unevenly sized and both resisted and sucked up the watercolor rather haphazardly). (I have a big stack of reject paper...from my sizing experiments.)

Nervous Energy-- 5"x7" watercolor on Japanese paper

Counting the Days--5"x7" watercolor and mica on Japanese paper

No real theme just shapes, colors, lines and a bit of leftover mica powder mixed into the paint.

Hefty

trash bag doodle No 1.

I have quite a few ideas gurgling away in the back of my mind/psyche. Some are pretty ambitious and involved and not something I want to tackle as I get ready to relocate to Italy (I leave in 2 weeks). But although I have a few simpler ideas I could probably get done before I leave, I haven't yet really jumped into anything with enthusiasm. In the meanwhile, I'm cleaning out the house and filling the recycling bins with papers and trash.

Needing to get out of the house, I grabbed my sketchbook and headed downtown. Not surprisingly, I've been drawing trash bags. Mostly in threes. Sometimes just one. Never two.

I like the one on the left as a possible woodblock print and started to think about printing logistics. The doodles on the bottom are thoughts about color separations and blocks. I would try this with six or seven blocks--with or without a keyblock.
However, this particular image could probably be tackled as a REDUCTION print, using just one block, gradually printing and then carving away from the image. I could go light to dark and progressively overlap colors to get the darks needed for the black and dark plastic.

I've never done a reduction print--and while it would solve all sorts of registration issues and would probably be faster; it would mean destroying the block as I go along, with no chance to go back and reprint areas later if they are too light or the wrong shade.

Doodles

Here are a few of the scribblings I did in the waiting room Monday.

All of the half-circle shapes are for a large, collaborative puzzle print and my small piece of wood is this shape.
I still haven't really decided on a direction.

The lampreys are one of the recurring opportunistic/parasitic organisms that inhabit my sketchbooks and psyche....

The lungs.....I don't know; holding my breath?inside/outside? Life/living?
Again it's an image that I've drawn over and over; sometimes quite literally, other times more oddly hidden or masked.

I've been looking over these and my sketchbooks these few days.
I'm off during Alex's recovery so I've had some time at home.
I'm getting itchy to start a NEW print....I've even been looking at my blank blocks and plank lumber, just looking at boards as sometimes the wood itself will tell me what to do.
I'm waiting for the dust to settle and A. to return to normal before I really go forward. But he's healing fast and I've had hours to myself when he hasn't really needed supervision.

I even managed to pull a stack of damp, partially-printed rabbit prints out of the freezer and finish them yesterday!
They're in a stack drying by the vent and should be ready to go out in the next 1-2 days!