Autumn Colour

Gordon Louis Mortensen

"Autumn Colour" is an execellent representation of an autumnal landscape. Mortensen captured the mood of season with purple, golds, reds, oranges, and greens. The colors of the leaves suggest the approach of winter, red leaves shimmer in the finality of their life cycle, and grasses turn golden in the cool depths of this woodland scene. Fall evokes the coolness of twilight when the lingering sunlight sets the foliage ablaze. Mortensen is a master of the reduction woodcut method carving numerous blocks and using a multiplicity of colors to create a painterly scene that has amazing depth.

To create this reduction color woodcut "Autumn Colour" Mortensen used 29 colors, printed with 23 separate press runs.

Gordon Mortensen commented on the reduction process he uses: "Only one woodblock is used. On it an image is drawn in India ink. Before the first color is printed, any areas that are to remain unprinted (white or the color of the paper) are cut away from the surface of the block. Then an oil base ink is used to print the first color on all of the sheets of paper that are to be used for the edition and proofs. After the first printing the block is again cut, removing any surface of the block that is to remain of the first color in the finished print. After each subsequent color is printed, the block is cut again, the process continues until the print is finished, and most of surface of the block is cut away."