I spent most of the day fighting with this woodcut, trying to salvage a presentable piece. First I struggled to mix a color that I wanted to use. I printed the brown on 5 sheets (this time I didn’t ink the ceiling area in the background). When I printed the black on top for the first time, I was still disappointed with the results. I realized that the background was too busy and was competing with the figure. If I hadn’t cut those marks in the wall area behind the figture, the figure would have come forward more clearly. I decided to cut away the background all together and reprint. I’m much happier now. However I’m still trying to decide if the brown adds anything or if the simple black and white version says it all.
2 Comments
Both work well. They’re just different. Can’t say I’d pick one over the other, though a dab of color does make a piece pop sometimes, even if the dab is minimal.
Thanks Jon. Version 3 will be forthcoming. I’m just not satisified so far but I think Ill nail it this time. It sucks when the magic moment of lifting up that first impression is more “hmm” than “wow!”.