Three color reduction lino print

I'm taking a zoom class in reduction lino printing from Nick Collins via Palo Alto's Pacific Art League.   I'm learning a lot but also watching a lot of YouTube videos; I have so much to learn!

The image is from a photo I found on the internet. I decided I would do 3 colors; a light yellow-orange, a dark orange and a black. I resized and traced the image onto a piece of linoleum with this in mind. 

For the first color, I eliminated everything on the block that I wanted to be white, then printed it. I liked the "chatter marks" in the direction of flight so decided after a test print to leave them. This is made with Caligo Safe Wash ink (an oil based ink that cleans up with soap and water) on Strathmore 300 printing paper. I mixed the extender with yellow and red paint and I love the painterly effect it has. I also like the wash of color and will try to do that purposefully in the future. 

If I do a border again, I won't leave a 1/4" white space outside the border; it adds nothing. It's also possible that such a large white space is not a great idea... And, I'd wanted the butterfly going the other direction but got so excited about carving that I forgot to flip the image.

The first coat took overnight to dry; meanwhile, I carved out all the spaces I wanted to stay yellow. Then I printed with a darker orange.

I started with red and added yellow; then couldn't get the red light enough. One of the videos I watched recommended adding the dark color to the light for manageable results. I could have started over with the ink but just went with it. I carved out some of the chatter marks so I'd have yellow in the sky as well. I am using too much ink.

Here's the final! Only one of the 16 had good registration. Clearly some practice is needed... My big issue was with registration, plus the inability to look at a mirror image and figure out which way to move to adjust the registration. There are a couple of ways of getting truer registration and I'm going to try them on the next print! And probably just try 2 colors. 

The plate only has the black lines left... so I can't print another series of this. But I might trim the plate down and print some watercolor post cards; I can color in the yellow and orange bits and I think they would be fun.