Yesterday's Print became a painting!

I couldn't decide what to share last night and my heads always clearer in the morning.  So this morning I've decided to go with my theme of the week and to blip about what happened when I attempted my second `print proof'.  This simple fact is that it didn't work!  There could have been endless reasons for this, among them over elaborate inking, too many swirly marks on the original plates, but I'm also beginning to wonder if the Fabriano paper might be playing its part.  I'm not sure as it's been fine with my mono-prints, but then they would have much more ink on the original perspex base to transfer. It's a while since I last did this kind of collograph and in the past I used the print on 300g cartridge, which is both smoother and harder.  So I'm not sure - that's the thing about printmaking - so many variables!  They take an age to ink and wipe when incorporating multi-colours, so it's a bit of a loss when they don't work. So yesterday I turned the failed print into a painting using the ink that remained.  It might not stand too close scrutiny, but I love the way the purple works in conjunction with the yellows and I wouldn't have made the discovery if I hadn't tried it out.  Yet again, it's made me question why I might try and create these elaborate one off collograph prints when I could be painting!

Two more possible choices - the sunlight on the creeper outside the bedroom window made it glow brilliant red, so I tried a multiple exposure shot.

And, we had two Small Tortoiseshell butterflies in the afternoon - one of them in pristine condition.  I think there has just been enough time for a new generation to grow to maturity since we last so them in the garden.  It's been such a poor year for the common butterflies like Tortoiseshells and Peacocks.  I wonder what happened this year?