Deeper through the forest

Deeper through the Forest   mixed media diptych  19x28cm each   ©2017Lisa Le Quelenec

Thinking about hard and soft, lost and found edges using pencil, oil pastel resist, watersoluble pencils, inks, and new to me pigments from Daniel Smith - sodalite genuine and lunar black. These two are fast becoming favourite colours. I love, love, love the soft inky denim of the sodalite.

I might leave this as it is or work into it again at a later date....it may even be the starting point for something else. The half term week has thrown me off kilter a bit. It's funny how just a few days off work can make you lose your thread. For now back to sketchbooks to find myself again I think.

If you go down to the woods today.... monoprint and mixed media via a digital sketchbook

Birch Study III   monoprint and mixed media   ©2017LisaLeQuelenec

Sometimes I like to experiment digitally with images - it can be a quick way of trying different crops of an image without commiting to changing physically a piece of work. I like how I can change tones and colours in seconds and so can be a useful tool to progress a project.

I scanned one of the birch tree monoprint and mixed media pieces from the last post, cropped it, changed the tones and then started to adjust the colouring. I rather like the warmer version and also the darker more moody version that came last. I chose the last idea to explore first wanting to go deeper into indigo with a bigger contrast in the tonal range for more drama.

Birch Study III digital sketchbook experiment page  ©2017LisaLeQuelenec

birch sketchbook sample ©2017LisaLeQuelenec

This is a small sample that I made using a scrap from a failed print and adding washes of watercolour in varying strengths. The oilbased printing ink resists the watercolour in unusual ways giving nice textural effects - something I want to use to my advantage although difficult to control.

If you go down to the woods today...   monoprint and mixed media   ©2017LisaLeQuelenec

The above image is the result of the experiment so far. On top of the monoprint I have used drawing ink, coloured pencils and watercolour. The surface qualities and textures of the materials resisting each other are producing some lovely marks. I think my next step is to return to my sketchbook and work through some composition thumbnails maybe also to see how some of these marks can be translated into pure paint. Fun and messy times ahead I think...

Birch tree monoprints and mixed media with a dash of freezing fog

A few days of thick freezing fog the other week has inspired a different avenue to explore. I don't ever remember seeing such thick and persistant freezing fog before. It has caused quite a bit of disruption to travel but has had an element of surprising beauty to it. The little one was fascinated by the 'crunchy' sparkles on the spider webs on the way to preschool. Simple looming silhouettes and subtle greys have inspired a very different feel to the series.

A Progression of monoprints and monoprint mixed media pieces - Birch Study I & II ( last two images) ©2017LisaLeQuelenec

The two mixed media pieces at the bottom have been made by using ghost prints. (a second print made from the printing plate from which a print has already been taken. Due to there being only residual ink left on the printing plate the second print is much more subtle.) As you can see from these two I was lucky enough to get two ghost prints the one on the right was the first to be taken.

I often prefer the ghost prints as I like the subtlety and delicate textures and they are often interesting to work into with other media. I think my next stage may be to take scans of these two and then play digitally with them and see what happens. 'Birch Study I & II' are available as reproductions at Redbubble here.