The “color separations” for Next [Panel I of the Nothing Triptych]. Shown in their respective colors.

Note: I realize that the above are not color separations in the strictest sense but I was applying the misnomer as I worked through producing them and it made it into the headline. Sowhaddayagonnado?

I am very close to finally taking the work off of my digital screen and on to an analog screen. After a flurry of emails and phone calls with the crazy talented (and extraodinarilly patient and helpful) Billy and Jason at Delicious Design League, I think I’m almost ready to get prints made of Next, the first panel of The Nothing Triptych.

The only reason I decided to start with “Nothing” is simply because I thought that after a 25-year hiatus from screen printing it might be a more forgiving re-introduction than the other two triptychs I’d posted so far. Even so, the process of taking my fairly simple design from the less than well-considered file I’d created and figuring out how best to achieve six colors from four on a black stock (I love this suggestion from Billy and Jason!) has proven to be an exceptionally engaging and very educational… challenge. And I’ve got to admit, it’s not without some trepidation that I look forward to doing subsequent “color separations” for the rest of this triptych and the others.

With an eye on costs, I have had to make a couple of small concessions. The first is the “four for six” color wrangling (which I’m confident will do justice to the original design) and the other is a slight downsizing (to fit an available pre-cut stock size) from 20”x30” to 16.675”x25. However, neither of these adjustments has subued my excitement in the slightest to finally be getting the work printed. If the above screen separations meet with DDL’s approval, I’ll move on to working on prepping the other two panels in this triptych and should have a trio of prints to show for it in the not too distant future.