Starting Something New

It's been a few weeks since I've been able to get back in my studio. After a bit of a clear out the remaining boxes are back on the shelves, the printing press has been re-installed, ready to go and the desk is clear for painting to begin.
My first task is a bit of a mammoth one...to lay the first layer of ink down on my Puffins print.
Imagine a rectangle of white and you're pretty much there, followed by a transparent powder blue...followed by a blend of blue/pale blue to finish off the sky.

Ready for an evening of carving

With the white background already done, I spent the evening carving out the white on the puffins. Just to make life easy I marked out everywhere I wanted  to keep crisp (and it helped me sort out which direction the feathers were going).

The palest blue

Now time for the ink. Try as I might this photograph does not show the right tone of blue. It is very pale but in real life it looks a lot bluer. The idea of making it so pale is simple enough. I want to lay a blend over the top to give more depth to the sky.

Inked up and ready to go

Twenty prints later there is the emergence of Puffins. It was a good day in the office as the composition is looking OK. Once this little lot has dried out, the next challenge will be to get the blend to balance....

Just visible - pale blue Puffins