Lisa Le Quelenec Seaside studios paintings, prints and mixed media: Isle of Wight

Showing posts with label Isle of Wight. Show all posts

Thursday, 11 August 2022

Collections of pebbles and hag stones in monoprint

I have been experimenting and exploring again this time the shapes and textures in pebbles gathered locally. They are a geological history of this part of the coast whose history fascinates me. I often wonder at how different it must have looked with the Isle of Wight's Needles still joined to Old Harry Rocks and where was it exactly that the sea breached and eroded to form the two iconic landmarks that gives us the beach we enjoy today. Was it where Poole harbour is? Being the second largest natural harbour in the world could make it a possibility...or did that come later as the water found the lowest point to pool in and wash away the softer land? These are things that I ponder as I walk along the beach picking up pebbles and looking through the hag stones that have been pushed around by the tide. How much of this history has this pebble seen? Or this one?

My experiments have taken the form of collagraph making individual plates of each stone, choosing textures to describe each pebble individually and then intuitively placing them to print in different combinations. It has the element of chance and surprise for me that echoes the way that I gather the pebbles they have been inspired by. The process is long as each pebble plate is inked separately again echoing the process that formed the rock.

Hagstones ©LisaLeQuelenec

Colours are taken directly from the source material but are also reflected back at me on my walks as the lack of rain and very hot, dry weather are parching the land. I haven't known the river to be so low, even at high tide it doesn't look the same. We have warnings along the coast to be mindful that the heat may produce cliff falls - the process continues to shape the land just as it did to shape the pebbles in my hand.

Tradition says that the fairy folk can be seen through a hag stone but I have only spied a 'polar bear' ;o) Have you seen the Wight bear?

All of the above prints are available in my Folksy Store.

Thursday, 17 May 2018

Time and Tide - a mini art book

I continue to think about the effects of time and errosion and the part they have played in shaping the coast where I live. How the pebbles that I pick up along the shore were once part of the land and how much the coastline has changed over thousands of years and how it could change in years to come. Old Harry Rocks was once joined to The Needles on the Isle of Wight....Harry has already lost his 'wife' a chalk stack that fell into the sea circa 1896 and at some point Old Harry will probably join her though I shouldn't think that will be in my lifetime especially as UNESCO has teams working to try and protect him. I wonder just how they can stop the tide... or even if they should? What treasures lie waiting for the tide to reveal?

I started to play with ideas on small pieces of card only 8x14cm using collage and drawing. I ended up with quite a collection and wanted a way to order and present them. Whittling it down to just five I have mounted them into a concertina book that I have made. A book as a finished piece is not a format that I have worked in before but it feels 'right' for this mini project. In my mind I am not thinking of it as a book as such but maybe more of a small chapter in a much longer narrative that I will never see completed.

On the final page is a small explanation about the inspiration behind the work which you can read below.

Like many coastal areas Dorset has a wealth of tales of myth and legend, some of which centre around Old Harry Rocks. These are chalk stacks formed by coastal erosion that lie at the gateway to the Jurassic Coast – a World Heritage site. The erosion that formed the chalk stacks also threatens their destruction and teams from UNESCO are working to save them.

One legend states that the rocks are named after a man called Harry Paye (d. 1419) a privateer and smuggler from Poole who intercepted hundreds of French and Spanish ships bringing his spoils back to the busy port of Poole.

Another naturally occurring phenomenon are hag stones which are pebbles with holes also made by erosion. Folklore states that they provide protection from witchcraft, disease and by looking through the hole you can see the fairy folk. Dorset fishermen used to tie them onto their boats for luck. I wonder if Harry Paye and his crew kept a hag stone or two on their ship…

Thursday, 10 May 2018

Well weathered - a series in mixed media and collage

I can get up to all sorts of mischief whilst waiting for ink to dry ;o) I have been working into some drypoint and etching prints with pencils, paint and collage - looking at them afresh and thinking about time and errosion.

The original six are available here.

They are also available as prints, cards and notebooks on RedBubble here.

Well Weathered VI by LisaLeQuelenec as prints, cards and notebooks on RedBubble

Thursday, 25 February 2016

Isle of Wight and Old Harry Rocks - etchings

Two etchings in sepia showing views from one end of the bay to the other. The Isle of Wight in the east and Old Harry Rocks to the west were once joined together in the days before the Ice Age. The effect of weather and sea has shaped what we can see today in an endlessly, to me, fascinating way. I love the shapes that are left and how they stand like guardians protecting the sweep of coastline. (In a very literal way with the light house on the Isle of Wight Needles.)

Both etchings are available in my Etsy shop here.

Sunday, 20 September 2015

Sketches from the Isle of Wight

I've just got back from a few days away on the lovely Isle of Wight. I have gathered new material in the form of sketches, added to my collection of seaglass, seaweed and pebbles, walked on different beaches, taken in new views and eaten some fabulous pistachio ice-cream...(it really was worth writing about ;o) ). It was a lovely break.

I even went on a couple of touristy trips. One of them was to a beautiful place called Butterfly World which inspired a couple of sketches and some thoughts for a new set of work - a break from my usual. The ideas are percolating and like steam from a hot coffee don't have a solid form just yet, they need a little time.

Now, lucky girl that I am I need to get ready for a trip to the lovely Shell Bay on Studland which I believe many, many, many years ago was connected to the Isle of Wight and time and tide have erroded the chalk to create Poole Harbour/Bay. The holiday hasn't ended just yet.

Wednesday, 12 November 2014

Guiding lights

Finally I have finished this painting started in June. It's not quite as dark in real life but I might have a wait to get a better one as more wintery weather seems to have settled in and whilst it is very mild in temperature we are having very heavy rain showers with skies much like in the painting. It feels quite apt to be posting it now.

To see the beginning stages of this painting click here.

Tuesday, 29 July 2014

A storm in a WIP....

I didn't appreciate before just how long putting together a blog post takes. There has been painting going on during the past month just not much time to sit at the pooter to edit pictures and get a post together......must try harder.

This is the canvas that I have been battling with. I think I am almost there. I need to live with it a while to 'see' the adjustments that need to be made. I feel that it needs more colour. The reality is not so contrasty and more warmer and subtle in the tones but the camera hasn't picked that up. So the battle continues....

I started by going through my colour notes sketchbook and choosing my palette. I wanted to keep the colour fairly subtle and not too dark. It was important to me that the colours leaned to the warm side, to give the feeling of the hot, humid, heavy feeling before a storm. This palette of ivory black, indanthrene, azure blue, buff titanium and parchment fitted the bill. I have added titanium and zinc white and a touch of pthalo turquoise to the mix.

Blocking in and deciding the tonal patterns are my starting point. Everything is very rough and ready getting the bare bones down quickly. I stayed fairly close to the original watercolour which you can see in my previous post here .

I was starting to work on the shafts of sunlight by dry brushing the paint and added the sail of the yacht in. The painting was trying to tell me that it needed something else. Something subtle but very necessary was missing.

I did what I usually do when faced with such a dilemma. I turned to my sketchbooks. Flicking through I found a tiny sketch of the Isle of Wight and the Needles and decided that the small little detail was just what I needed. I had to keep it subtle though I didn't want anything fighting with the light which is the focal point of the painting.

My sketchbooks are beyond valuable to me and such an important part of the way that I work. Sometimes just for small details like this and the notes about light and atmosphere.

I kept the tones very close so that the land is a mere suggestion. It also appeals to me that the there is a second 'guiding light' with the addition of the lighthouse but that it is outweighed by nature's guiding light.

Reassessing the painting I concluded that the yacht was now too far over to the right of the composition and needed to move to the left a little. I also increased the scale. The sail is acting like an arrow to the sun streaming through the cloud.

Monday, 8 April 2013

Morning Glow

Painting has been sloooooow the last week. Even though this painting is just a small one it has been a battle of wills trying to capture the soft hazy light. The warmth in this piece is my wishful thinking for a warmer spring than we have experienced so far this year. It can't be long now.... can it?

Tuesday, 25 September 2012

September storms


Gathering cloud - the Needles 13x10cm watercolour on paper ©2012 Lisa Le Quelenec

I have been continuing my experiments with 'black' watercolour that I started last year. You can see the original posts here and here . Since Sunday we have been 'blessed' with really heavy rain storms occasionally shot through with blazing sunshine. The sky has been very changeable with dramatic rain clouds and yesterday when they had rained themselves out and the sun shone I escaped to the beach. There was a very strong wind - too strong for painting down there but I did have a good walk and took some photos that may be used as reference. The sea was very choppy with lots of big crashing waves sending spray flying. I love this weather!

Towards Swanage 24/09/12 photograph

Below are a couple of postcard sized experiments - more to follow.....

Monday, 16 July 2012

Dark as night

A view towards the Isle of Wight and the Needles from the beach at Hengistbury Head. At times with the heavy rain storms that we have been having it feels like twilight and it's the middle of the day. I've been enjoying painting dark watercolours again. There is something in me that likes to get out the blacks, sepia and indigo in watercolour, maybe it's a rebellious streak after being told for so long that you shouldn't use black.

Last week we had a day of sunshine so I headed out to Hengistbury and as I walked along the wooden walkway I saw lots of sand lizards lined up at the edges sunning themselves. It's been a miserable summer for them without much opportunity for a sunbathe so it was nice to see them taking advantage of it.

This painting is available in my Etsy store.

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