Incredible that this one is taking so much time ... there is a lot of detail in those ground cover blocks, and with all the other jobs competing for attention, it's going very slowly ...

Anyway, the blocks were finally 'finished' a couple of weeks back, and since then, I've been playing around with them, trying this and that, generally getting familiar with how they work together.

This is a block set that would be very suitable for one of those experiments where the same blocks could be used to make a series of completely different prints - early morning, deep midnight, etc. etc. I don't have the freedom to do that (right now), as the scene is basically set; this is supposed to be the view I see when emerging from my tent in the pre-dawn mist. Here's the quote from the story at the point where the image comes in:

"But I'm pretty much wide awake now, and although I do lie back on the mat in my comfortable bag, the sky is starting to show a faint light, and soon the birds are chirping their welcome to the new day. There's not much else for it but to obey their call, and get going on the day's activities. I slip my clothes on and step outside. It's quite misty; the trees immediately around me are clearly visible, but those just a short distance away are blurred, and behind those the forest fades into shadows. The pre-dawn air is of course still quite chilly, and damp with dew. A bit of a heavier sweater would have been a better choice to bring along on this trip, but as I know the day will warm up once the sun gets a chance to work its magic, it's not a problem ..."

So anyway, I've got some stuff to show. None of these are 'the print', as I am still not satisfied with what has come off the blocks so far, and have more tests planned, but they should still be interesting for people to peruse.

It's also worth noting that none of these were intended as 'prints', in the sense of 'finished' works. I really play around with these sample sheets as I am making them. I run a few sheets at a time, and even if I may think "Hmm, that sky looks pretty good," I will still put a sky that is 'too dark' on the next sheet, simply to see what it looks like, or that sheet may get an experimental version of a tree trunk, or whatever.

So here's a selection from the different proof runs made over the past couple of weeks. The earliest ones are kind of gloomy, and since then I've been trying to work out how the light should spill out into the image ... I'd be interested to hear what people think of these ...

Posted by Dave Bull at 10:38 AM | Comments (11)