once again printmaking has shown me that (a) you never know what you’re going to end up with, and (b) sometimes the mistakes turn out to be better than planned if you let them sit over night instead of putting them directly into the recycling bin.

I was determined to do another sugar skull print this year.  Last year I did it using a shellac plate and intaglio process with water soluble colored pencils. 

This year I thought I’d try it using MDF board scavenged from my next door neighbor’s wood pile.  You know, a wood engraving style woodcut.  The carving went swimmingly, MDF is hard but not impossible to carve using standard linoleum carving blades.  Next, “inking” it up.  First I tried water-soluble pastels.  The result was less than stellar so I went back to water soluble pencil crayons.  The results, not what I expected.  Having said that, and after taking a couple of deep breaths, I realized that the results were pretty cool.  I pulled a total of eight prints.

So two will go into my etsy shop.  Have I mentioned it?  www.moreart.etsy.com

And three will be given away, right here on my blog.  Just send me an email at d _ rogal at hotmail dot com and I will pick three random winners.  Given how many people read my blog your chances of winning are excellent!  Deadline is October 15, winner will be notified by email.  Subject to rules and restrictions at the whim of the artist.  Not legal in Quebec.

** For the printmakers out there, come back tomorrow when I will critique the process and tell you what I think went wrong/right with my print.