Moving Along with the Blackpoll Woodcut

Blackpoll Warblers and Swamp Dogwood. Four Color Woodcut Proof by Ken Januski.

Blackpoll Warblers and Swamp Dogwood. Three Color Woodcut Proof by Ken Januski

One more beautiful day and I've been inside the entire day, working on this print. Oh well. If I didn't enjoy it and it wasn't important I would have delayed it and gone out and enjoyed the day.

We have a couple of 2.5 year old cats that tend to get into trouble, especially recently. My wife jokingly rationalizes this by saying that they're 'splorin, a contraction for exploring. Well I hate to be lumped in with those little troublemakers, but I too am 'splorin. This entire print is an exploration.

That is both the fun and the challenge of it. The top print shows the print in its most finished stage so far. But the black that is supposed to unify it and define the two Blackpolls dominates the print at this point. Tomorrow I need to make some final decisions on the bottom proof. Once I do I'll print the third color on good printmaking paper.

Then the real task will remain - deciding how much black to remove. And then deciding on whether or not to reprint any of the other three blocks on top of the black. I'm very tempted to print the first yellowish block. That will both tone down the black on the breasts of the Blackpolls and turn some of the pinks and roses a bit more orangey. At least that's how I visualize it.

Stay tuned.