Limpets in varied edition collagraph prints

 

Limpets   ©2021LisaLeQuelenec

 

 

At home in Jersey, I still call it home despite not having lived there for more than 25 years, limpet shells are very common due to the rocky coastline that is their habitat. In Bournemouth a lack of rockpools means that I don't see them washed up on the beaches. When I go back to visit I usually find a few have worked their way into my pockets. I'm not sure if it is because I am missing home (I'm wondering when it will feel safe to travel - I am cautious by nature) or because the broken shells that fascinate me remind me so much of the hag stones that I do find here in Bournemouth but I have been drawn to draw them. (See what I did there.)

 

Limpet shells and the collagraph plate that they inspired   ©2021LisaLeQuelenec

 

 

After sketching out a few plans in my sketchbook I decided to make a collagraph plate, I had just had an order delivered that had some fine carborundum grit in it amongst other things and was eager to test it out. Using mountboard as a plate, acrylic medium as an adhesive, the grit and some grout/tile adhesive I set to work. I'm not sure if in shows very well in the photo but once the plate was dry I scratched into it with a drypoint needle to add more linear elements.

Below are four of the prints in the small edition all inked up differently to each other.

Ensemble  (4 of the prints in a varied edition of 6)  collagraph   9.5x9.5cm   ©2021LisaLeQuelenec

I couldn't resist making some more plates below is another of them with the resulting prints. I have put some of the prints for sale in my Folksy  store.

Limpets shells and collagraph plate   ©2021LisaLeQuelenec

Stacked   varied edition collagraph   8x13cm    ©2021LisaLeQuelenec

At the end of all of this printing, I looked again at the plates. I kind of think they could be framed in their own right. I like looking at the worn down textures (worn by the press rather than by the sea) and the history of ink colour that has sunk into the grooves and the plate.

Collagraph plates and limpet shells   ©2021LisaLeQuelenec