End Of Year, Odds and Ends.

 I'm still dealing with some unfinished, 2015 end-of-year odds and ends. I "finished" this print this summer. But I only actually printed a few-- I think I have 5 good copies plus a couple of variants out of a still-to-be-printed edition of 30.   So, over a month ago, I started an actual edition, but I got half way through it and had to leave them so I stashed the partially printed prints, damp pack and all, into the freezer. 
Well, Christmas and New Years have come and gone and my frozen damp pack has been jostled by frozen fish and fowl, tortellini, leftover soup and sweet breads and cakes.

So New Year's Day, my first resolution was to get this thing done so I can move on to the next project(s).

I think there are probably 30-40 in the damp pack. 28 or so on good Japanese Kozo (the same as the first 2 I printed in August), there are a few on Rives Heavyweight and a Few on Magnani or Fabriano (to see how it prints on European papers) and a couple on my home-sized, Japanese papers.....

I've printed this week the shadows (I print them first so that when I print the body color it will flatten them out as I don't want the shadows to be in relief). 
Today I printed the first color pass of the torso/skin color.  It's a yellow/pink and I add a red flush bokashi to the neck and shoulder.  It will need a second pass, to even it out and add another bokashi to the shoulder and neck but not until the rest of the colors go down.

Next up is the strong magenta horizontal stripes to the blouse. This is the strongest color in the print and the final colors will have to go down after, so I can adjust the strength of the background and the skin colors to it....then there's one more hair block......and then the chop.

SO....it looks like as of tonight, I still have at least 4-5 colors to go on this "Finished" print of 2015.
STILL TO DO:
--Sign and number my Mantis engraving (I've printed 30 of the 100 total I hope to print) so there's that too.
--Sign and number my Chestnut/Autumn Treasures woodblock print.
--Finish making a few portfolio folders for a bunch of loose prints so I can get them organized and put away. 


 










I've promised myself that I won't start carving or printing anything new (Monkeys, engravings, moku hanga, etc.) until  (most?) of this is done--although I have been busy, I've been fleshing out a few print ideas both for engravings and woodblock works and I feel a collagraph coming on too.....