29 April 2006

Tom's Good Suggestion

My friend Tom left an excellent suggestion in the last post about somehow adjusting the light sources on the human figure. I often ignore Tom's excellent suggestions, as I'm very stubborn, but he graciously continues to offer them. Today I tried darkening the shadow on the right side of the figure and I think it makes the print even stronger. Thanks, Tom.

6 comments:

Ellen Shipley said...

Oh I agree! Very strong.

Ellen

Anonymous said...

Hi Annie,

The print looks great. I should retire gracefully, but I have some general suggestions on how to make late changes.

I was in the habit of washing the entire tissue design from the block after carving. Now I carefully preserve the unused area of the hanshita. By leaving most of the design on the block it is easy to add a little something later on. An extra black detail can happily co-exist on the red block if there is sufficient space between them.

It is easy to preview the effect of late changes by cutting shapes out of paper and laying these on the print, or even easier, carve the shapes out of the print itself. You can hold coloured paper behind the print to try different colours. If you like what you see then drop the print (properly moistened) into the kento and trace out the alterations.

Annie B said...

See, now that's another excellent suggestion, preserving the sketch on the block. It's something that might have taken me another 6 months or a year to come up with myself.

The thing I find really excruciating about making late changes is the fact that my ability to keep good close registration is still lacking, so when I go back in to make adjustments to something I've already printed once, I often ruin several prints. Hopefully that problem will improve with experience.

Mellissa Read-Devine said...

Beautiful print. Really nice with the light.
Mellissa

Andy English said...

Annie, this is another lovely piece of work; I am pleased that you abandoned you original idea. Careful planning is, I find, essential, but when I am moved to stray from the path, I tend to follow my instinct, as you have with this piece.

Belatedly, my very best wishes on the anniversary of your taking up woodblock printing.

Anonymous said...

Very nice Annie! Happy anniversary from another Annie. I always love looking at your work.