A new series

I have been intently working on a new series of small scale mixed media pieces which I am show casing at the Hayloft Gallery's Coral Anniversary Exhibition. They have been inspired by my pocket sketchbooks that are filled with quick sketches, often no more than hurried gestural marks that have taken no more than a minute. I like the vitality and simplicity of these sketches which sometimes is lost in paintings and have been thinking about how to make a series of work that captures this essence. Whilst thinking about how best to approach the project I decided that I wanted to keep the scale very small like the original sketches but also have a way of making variations from each sketch - a series within the series so to speak.

Variations series    mixed media 6.5x10.5cm   ©2013Lisa Le Quelenec

To begin with I started monoprinting then I worked back into the prints with other media, mostly colour pencil. (I've a hunch that collage may make an appearance as the series progresses.) The textures that the printing ink makes during the monoprint process makes a lovely tooth to work back into. The texture grabs a hold of the pencil in a nice way. As the series progresses I want to be working more on the mark making which is truer to the original sketches but old habits are hard to break ;o) Also because of the unpredictable nature of the printing process it means that I can have very different variations even though the original source (sketch) is the same.

One of the beauties of this way of working is that time has become a very precious commodity for me the last few months so it means that I can keep working through disruptions as they are easy to pick up and put down unlike paintings. (It's difficult to stop a watercolour mid wash or an acrylic where the paints dries too quickly. Especially during this heatwave that we are experiencing in the UK. It has been hot hot HOT!!! - such a change from all the flooding last year.)