Making the "Autumn Glow" Block Print

I took this photo while exploring country roads on a beautiful October day.
I want to capture the warm sparkle of the leaves amid the cool green pines.
Also, that little path into the dark woods is intriguing. What if there were a sunlit clearing way in there?

The first carving is printed on the letterpress, to create yellow leaves

I took that first carving, carved away the parts that should stay yellow, and made orange leaves

I always make a sharpie drawing on clear acetate and transfer it to the linoleum,
to serve as a guide for carving.

I mix yellow, and black, which (oddly) makes olive green, so I add red to make brown.
The inked carving, and the print

The next carving should print dark loden green.
But brown underneath will make the green even muddier,
so I mix a clear dark green to compensate.
After printing, it looks almost like dark chocolate, in florescent light.
But in daylight it's loden green. Both look good!

And now for the transparency experiment: I print the evergreen boughs black,
letting the unprinted paper create white highlights...

I do a new carving of evergreen shapes, carving precisely, 
to register perfectly on the black and white evergreen boughs in the print. 
Add a lot of transparent ink to the teal green mixture, 
and print over both black and white highlights. 
It worked! Two colors from one printing!

That little white clearing in the distance needs to be filled in with yellow.
The tiniest block I've ever carved...

After weeding out the imperfect prints, I have an edition of 175 prints.
Here's "Autumn Glow," signed, numbered,
and all dressed up in Thomas Pafk's beautiful handmade frame!
See it in my online store