First steps on a new print

The start of a new and quite complicated print. The sequence shows the results of the first few days work.

The block cut and ready to be inked with the first colour,

which will be a blend of four shades of yellow.

Rolled out

and the block inked, which gives an indication of how little has been cut from it at this stage.

The first colours printed.

Next is a pale blue

but only in a small and discrete part of the block so all I've cut so far is the area immediately around the patch of blue. There will be a lot of cutting to do after this has been printed before the next big block of colour can go down.

The blue printed.

After the next colour, another blend, this time three greys and a darker yellow ochre.

The inked block shows how much material has been removed since printing the blue. Hopefully this blend of cool greys over the yellow and orange will set the atmosphere for the print.

And printed. So far we have nine colours printed in 3 stages. The sky is now finished so the next step is to remove all of the material above the horizon line before deciding what to do next. The Owl is positioned such that once this has been done, I can work on it without having to ink any other part of the block. It needs to have a couple more colours to define it's plumage properly; a darker yellow ochre and a dark blue grey. So I may do this next before continuing to work the landscape.