Well…here goes – this is just one of the three images I am doing in this theme for the exhibition in November. I always find it so interesting to see what the carved block looks like (pretty strange and hacked at I usually think!) compared to the print it makes.
These photos are my first proofs to see if I have carved accurately and if they register correctly. This has taken me so much longer than my usual prints because I have preferred to use the reduction technique before. I’ve got to leave this one alone now or I will fiddle, fiddle fiddle, then end up chipping off a really important bit, prompting me to swear like the proverbial sailor…. This isn’t the finished colourway either, that will be another night of umming and ahhing, oh joy.
The image is from a photo of my mother that was taken in the 1950’s and the other two prints in this series are from the same ‘shoot’. The originals are in black and white so I wanted to make these images colourful like the typical illustrations of the era.

Apart from these particular images I need to make at least another 10+ for the exhibition. Should I continue in the theme of effectively ‘re-colouring’ family photos (I have some ides on that) or should I show other subject matter that I am interested in? This is my first exhibition and I am a ‘newbie’ at this, so am ever so slightly clueless… any thoughts would be most welcome!

background

keyblock (before stripes cut out)

dress pattern

Please excuse the darkness of the photos, I will scan the final images when they are done.