Sundial shell pattern collections

 

Sundial Collection in Teal swatches - fabric, wallpaper, home accessories and accessories available at Spoonflower and RedBubble ©2024LisaLeQuelenec

Always a sucker for a spiral, I love these sundial shells. I love the bottom face as much as the more pronounced swirl on the top. The beautiful spiralling circles in this particular one called to me.

Sundial Shell front and back ©2024LisaLeQuelenec

This one little shell has inspired a whole collection of repeat patterns available as fabric, wallpaper and home accessories at Spoonflower and as clothing, accessories and home accessories in my RedBubble Store.

Of course no collection is complete without being available in a selection of colours. Whilst teal is my favourite there is also duck egg, chartreuse, and claret with forest green and navy being the latest versions of the designs. Co-ordinating pinstripes, plains and seigaiha wave/scale patterns are also within the collections. 

As I work more with pattern making I am discovering that I often reach for far richer and bolder colours that I would never use in my painting or printing. I am wondering if, as I continue, this may change. It is interesting to stand back and watch the creative paths converge and diverge, one often feeding the ideas of another.

Which colour is your favourite?

Sundial Collection in Duck Egg swatches - fabric, wallpaper, home accessories and accessories available at Spoonflower and RedBubble ©2024LisaLeQuelenec

Sundial Collection in Chartreuse swatches - fabric, wallpaper, home accessories and accessories available at Spoonflower and RedBubble ©2024LisaLeQuelenec

Sundial Collection in Forest Green swatches - fabric, wallpaper, home accessories and accessories available at Spoonflower and RedBubble ©2024LisaLeQuelenec

Sundial Collection in Navy swatches - fabric, wallpaper, home accessories and accessories available at Spoonflower and RedBubble ©2024LisaLeQuelenec

Sundial Collection in Claret swatches - fabric, wallpaper, home accessories and accessories available at Spoonflower and RedBubble ©2024LisaLeQuelenec

Little treasures from the shore

Auger shells ©2024LisaLeQuelenec

Look at these little beauties found in Scotland. I have never found these before though I believe they can be found here in the South. I may have jigged a little happy dance when I spotted the first one 😊 The colours are many and are really subtle when you look closely. I picked up these three for the variation in their colouring, the photo doesn't do them justice.

The treasures in the photo below are from a more recent trip to Kimmeridge, I think they make a nice potential palette.

Pebble, limpet, seaweed and plastic ©2024LisaLeQuelenec

Limpet portraits - acrylic on board

 

Limpet Portraits 1-4   acrylic on canvas board 15x15cm   ©2023LisaLeQuelenec

The four shells lying vertically in the photo above are the subjects of these first four portraits. When you closely observe and compare them you can see so many differences, each having it's own characteristics and subtleties. Hopefully you can see better in this photo below.

Limpet Shells photograph ©2023LisaLeQuelenec

Limpet Portrait 1   acrylic on canvas board 15x15cm   ©2023LisaLeQuelenec

I have been toying with the idea of using text within work for a while. The text in two of these paintings comes from notes I made about limpets from Wikipedia. During my research of these fascinating creatures I stumbled across a paper by Dr Louise Firth, Associate Professor of Marine Ecology at the University of Plymouth, titled What Have Limpets Ever Done for US? It is fascinating reading taking in thousands of years of cultural history all over the world as well as their importance within the ecosystem and many other threads besides. If you would like to delve into this fascinating read here is a link.

Limpets are extremely common in Jersey due to the island being surrounded by the perfect rocky habitat. As a child their common sight left me a little blind to collecting them and I rarely picked them up. However during the summer on a visit to La Hougue Bie Museum I learnt a little and saw how they were considered of such importance as to be placed within the Neolithic grave mound. During the Occupation when food was scarce they became an important source of food, supplementing meagre rations - not for the first time were they known as famine food (and not just in this location). The more I read, draw and paint these tough little critters the more respect I feel for them.

Limpet Portrait 2  acrylic on canvas board 15x15cm   ©2023LisaLeQuelenec

Limpet Portrait 3  acrylic on canvas board 15x15cm   ©2023LisaLeQuelenec

Limpet Portraits 4   acrylic on canvas board 15x15cm   ©2023LisaLeQuelenec

All four portraits are available in my Folksy Store.

New Page Tab - Coastal & Quotes 2022

 

Heading to the beach ©LisaLeQuelenec2022

I have enjoyed building a collection again over the course of this year and as much as the planning and painting giving me lots to think about, the curating of the pieces - their running order and how they could be placed on walls has also been food for thought. I think I will work on another collection in this way next year, I already have a few ideas in mind, one is quite different to October's.... 

As these two photos show, if the weather the last couple of days is anything to go by there may not be quite so much time to research comfortably outside so there might be a bit more inspiration coming from things gathered and brought home. 

Anyway I hope you have enjoyed this collection of paintings and thank you for following along. All the paintings from October are available for sale in my Folksy store here.  To see the collection in its entirety I have made a separate page here on the blog, just click on the tab at the top.

And leaving pretty quick! ©LisaLeQuelenec2022

Collections of pebbles and hag stones in monoprint

 

Collection I   collagraph monoprint   29x19cm   ©2022LisaLeQuelenec

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?

Collection II   collagraph monoprint   29x19cm   ©2022LisaLeQuelenec

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.

Needles - Isle of Wight   23x20cm   ghost print and mixed media   ©2022LisaLeQuelenec

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.

Sea worn textures shaped by the tide

 

Sea worn and sun bleached   ©2022LisaLeQuelenec

We are experiencing a heatwave here in the UK. I find hot summer days a trial at the best of times without it going to extremes so I'm not looking forward to the weekend and early part of next week. Instead of heading to the beach I will be inside with my collections revisiting inspirations already found. 

Arranging my beach findings, photographing and playing digitally with them always inspires new colour combinations, marks, textures etc, It is something to take time over and meditate on, to recognise connections and I don't get frustrated with paint or ink drying too quickly ;o) although a sketchbook will probably be pulled out for a play at some point. So that is where I will be for a while, looking at pretty things and refilling the well. I hope you enjoy the sunshine if that is your thing and if not enjoy the shade like me. Best wishes.

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

Palette inspirations - digital sketchbook pages and colour notes

I forget to show images of the things I use as as palette inspiration. I have posted about my colour notebook before here and I thought I would show a little of my notebook, digital sketchbook and scrapbook that I refer to when I work. I make these grids and medleys on down days as a way of getting my self going again. Just like looking at old sketchbooks and photos can be the little spark I need that leads to an inferno of ideas.

Ideas are not in short supply at the moment but unfortunately the small dexterity issue that I am experiencing with my hand means I cannot proceed with the work that I had intended. A lesson in patience for me but there is always something else that can be done. For now I am filling notebooks with thumbnails, catching up on admin and making some more medleys like these.

Colour notebook pages, photos and the paintings that they inspired  ©2019LisaLeQuelenec

Magazine snippets, paint charts, beach finds and a sketch that became the basis of a drypoint  ©2019LisaLeQuelenec

Snippets from a clothing catalogue with beach finds and amazonite beads   ©2019LisaLeQuelenec

Colour notebook pages, photos and the paintings that they inspired  ©2019LisaLeQuelenec

A fun little project - carving stamps and making cards.

Three little carved stamps   4x7cm each   ©2019LisaLeQuelenec

I had carved this set of little stamps some time ago and used them to make a set of greetings cards. It was a fun little project and they became best sellers when I used to do fairs and demonstrations. I thought I would re-print them and have made them available on Seasidestudiosuk on Folksy. I think I might make some new designs as it is an enjoyable project especially for a rainy afternoon.

Card design ©2019LisaLeQuelenec

Beach Treasures in mixed media

Beach Treasures   etching and mixed media    ©2018LisaLeQuelenec

Following on from the etchings in last weeks post I couldn't resist playing with a set in coloured pencil. I have scanned them and made the available as cards and reproduction prints on Redbubble .

Beach treasures   etching and coloured pencil   ©2018LisaLeQuelenec

Beach treasures etchings and process

Sketches and preliminary sketchbook work for the Beach Treasures etching ©2018LisaLeQuelenec

I had begun to plan my most ambitious etching project to date some time ago. As always it started in my sketchbook and was a kind of continuation of the watercolour beach treasures collections to begin with I wasn't sure if the compositions were going to be in watercolour or print. I had even gotten as far as thinking about colour when I decided to go the etching route.

Concept sketch for Beach Treasures etching plates ©2018LisaLeQuelenec

Refining the shapes and drawing for each plate took some time as I wanted to get the spacing and balance perfect for each individual plate and for it to work just as well as a triptych. Once that was done I was ready to make the plates and could easily transfer each outline onto the prepared zinc. Carefully I added in the hatching to render the form of the objects. There is a lovely parallel between the hardness of the shells and pebbles and the delicate marks they have and recreating it on a hard metal plate.

Once completed the plates are bathed in acid for the drawing to be eaten away giving a 'tooth' for the ink to settle in and imprint on the paper. After carefully cleaning away the rest of the ground (the substance used as a barrier to keep the acid from eating away at the metal where you don't want a mark) the plate is ready for inking.

The plates all ready for printing - Beach treasures ©2018LisaLeQueleenc

I have proofed the plates individually (made test prints) in both black and blue/black ink and am happy with the results. It really does pay for me to spend time in the preparation before starting the plate making.

The proof prints are both available mounted as you can see here at Seaside Studios UK on Etsy. Prints of individual plates are available on both Etsy and in my Folksy store.

Beach treasures I, II & III   original etchings, first artists proof prints mounted to 30x50cm   ©2018LisaLeQuelenec

Beach treasures I, II & III   original etchings, second artists proof prints mounted to 30x50cm   ©2018LisaLeQuelenec

Beach Treasures I, II & III   etchings 6.5x13.5cm   ©2018LisaLeQuelenec

Seaweeds - new watercolours

Three new seaweeds available at Seaside Studios UK

Seaweeds   watercolour on paper 21x30cm   ©2018LisaLeQuelenec

Country Homes & Interiors August Edition 2018

The seaweed painting below that appears on the cover of Country Homes & Interiors magazine's August Edition has already found it's new home in Norway. The article looks gorgeous and I would like to say a big thank you for the opportunity to Features & Art Director Sara Bird, Stylist Selina Lake, Style Assistant Sarah Prall and Photographer David Brittain .

Seaweed   30x21cm approx watercolour on paper   ©2017LisaLeQuelenec

A medley of work from the last few weeks....

A medley of work from the last few weeks ©2017LisaLeQuelenec

A virus has been keeping me away from work so I haven't progressed as far as I had hoped to with the gulls. I thought I would share a collection of some of the work that has been going on in the background whilst the gull experiments have been going on - all these pieces are available at SeasideStudiosUK

I'm not sure why a ball of string...it just looked like it needed to be drawn and one thing led to another...

String   drypoint 8.5x15cm   ©2017LisaLeQuelenec

Pine cones - it started with some sketches....

Pine cone sketches   pencil ink and watercolour   ©2017Lisa Le Quelenec

...and quickly got out of hand... but in a good way. I love the structure of pine cones, such a challenge to get 'right'. There is a park I visit with my little one that guarantees we will come home with at least a few we are both as bad as each other with our little collections and we added quite a few more this summer.

Sketches and doodles turned into...

Pine cone stages   watercolour on A4 paper   ©2017Lisa Le Quelenec

There are two paintings available to buy here at Seaside Studios UK.


But then that turned into....

From sketch to drypoint plate to prints   ©2017Lisa LeQuelenec

and now I have these....

Trio   artist proof 1 drypoint print 19x10cm   ©2017LisaLeQuelenec

Trio   artist proof 2 drypoint print image size19x10cm   ©2017LisaLeQuelenec

Trio   3/20 drypoint print image size19x10cm   ©2017LisaLeQuelenec

Trio   drypoint prints image size 19x10cm   ©2017LisaLeQuelenec

Which are also available at Seaside Studios UK and at Seaside Studios Uk on Folksy.


I do get myself in a pickle sometimes :o)