Wednesday 28 March 2012

Contrails and sunset sketchbook experiments



sketchbook page ©2012 Lisa Le Quelenec



Inspired from the trip and mulling over the ideas of contrails and the setting sun I had a days experimenting yesterday. Thinking about the division of space, centre of interest and the fine line between representation and abstraction I made some tiny gouache thumbnails. These experiments may lead somewhere or they may not but it's nice sometimes just to do with know pressure of an end result or things looking neat or finished.



sketchbook page ©2012 Lisa Le Quelenec




sketchbook page ©2012 Lisa Le Quelenec


detail

detail






















The two images on the left are details, hopefully showing the surface texture, of the study on the right that I did in acrylic. I wanted to play with the idea of combining the contrails with the gulls. I picked a not so good placement for the vertical contrail, it has rather flattened the image. This is one very good reason for doing little studies like this in a sketchbook and not waiting to realise a mistake in a painting that has had more time invested in it. To see the order of layers and their colours click on the image to enlarge. I remembered to make the list this time - something I've been meaning to do before.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lisa, so interesting!

Zoe, ontheroad said...

Yes, interesting or perhaps fascinating.

Lisa, are you keeping a specific journal/sketchbook for these tests and the earlier ones on colours?

And just barely Spring, but it's around the corner somewhere nearby. :)

RH Carpenter said...

How enjoyable to see your sketches and your plans - from just the setting sun and some contrails in the sky you've created many beautiful abstracted paintings here :) I hope you do continue with this and see where it takes you. I enjoyed the walk on the beach yesterday, too :)

Unknown said...

you know what makes studies interesting? we usually see the final art, hence we do not know the joys of going throught the process of art. :D

Bruce Sherman said...

Good Morning Lisa!... Thank you for sharing your process of thought and image here!

It is indeed a very unique combination of common sky elements and should I think... lead to larger investigation and paintings.

It is the placement of such thoughts in sketchbooks... which guarantees that they are seeds... not lost... but reserved for palnting and germination on another another fertile day!

Thank you for sharing!

Good Painting!...Happy Spring!
Warmest regards,
Bruce

Lydie said...

Interesting to see your approach, and the close-up are great. Thanks !

Lisa Le Quelenec said...

Hi Maggie, thanks.

Hello Zoe, these little experiments live in my usual everyday sketchbook. Sometimes when I look back over time I can see connections with work that at first glance might look completely unrelated. It's good for me to see some chronology. I keep separate sketchbooks for daffodil studies and a colour notebook which is a kind of DIY reference book that lives on my work table. I think the only other ongoing sketchbooks I have are the one that I take out with me and a tiny one by my bed for those middle of the night ideas. I've a shelf of finished ones that I go back to and dip in and out of.

Hi Rhonda, I've been continuing but who knows where I will end up ;o)

Hello Perrine and welcome. I tried to leave a comment on your blog but blogger wouldn't let me :o( your drawing is gorgeous. I will be exploring your blog soon. Thank you for taking the time to introduce yourself.

Thank you Bruce for the fantastic analogy, very apt for this time of year. These seeds may lie dormant a while but I am sure they will bear fruit.

Hi Lydie, thank you. It's always refreshing to use a different approach. I'm really looking forward to seeing some more acrylics from you.