Lisa Le Quelenec Seaside studios paintings, prints and mixed media: design

Showing posts with label design. Show all posts

Thursday, 6 February 2025

New Collection - Ginkgo Leaves fabric & wallpaper - drypoint prints too

If you have been reading along on this blog for a while you may remember looking through a sketchbook that I started somewhere near the beginning that was just for ginkgo drawings and experiments. I was/am obsessed with the trees, I find them fascinating; the history, medical properties, their ability to survive what ever has been thrown at them as a species. I have a mental map of ginkgo's in my area and add to it when I spot them in places out of town that I visit.

Whilst having a tidy of the work room last year I stumbled upon the book, I haven't given it much thought for nearly a decade but as I flipped through I started seeing potential for surface pattern making.

So here it is a new collection Ginkgo Leaves, the product of a few months work. All designs are available at Spoonflower in a beautiful range of fabrics and wallpaper finishes. For accessories, stationery and home goods the designs are available at RedBubble. I have made the collection available in four colourways with co-ordinating solid colours, pinstripes and patchworks. Do you have a favourite? It is a toss up between the golden yellow and aqua for me.

***Please forgive me as each image I have used here includes the details of mine and Spoonflowers name but as the images get pinned and shared it is useful to me to have the name in it so people can find the products.

Some designs are larger scale than others and they can all be mixed and matched within their colour groups. As an example Falling Ginkgo Leaves below is available in the different tones within the yellow group and on a variety of fabrics from cotton and linen to velvet and chiffon and many others.

There are seven different options in wallpaper, I love the silver metallic finish which gives a soft and subtle sheen.

As if that wasn't enough to stop my satisfy my yearning to see these trees in leaf I also have two new drypoint prints (available in my Etsy and Folksy stores;

Thursday, 26 September 2024

Sundial shell pattern collections

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.

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?

Sunday, 12 August 2018

Beach treasures etchings and process

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.

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.

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.

Thursday, 10 January 2013

Going daffie!

Two pages from near the beginning of my daffodil book, these studies are from 2009. I remember at the time I had just got a copy of Composition: Understanding Line, Notan and Color by Arthur Wesley Dow. I would really recommend this book for exploring composition and design, it's one I refer back to time and again. I was struck by the connections between yesterday's post and these studies.

Monday, 21 February 2011

Beginnings

I've been looking at Giorgio Morandi for the way he used the same vessels in many images whilst still keeping each painting fresh, Lyonel Feinenger - for structure and movement, Henri Matisse mostly his cut outs - exciting edges/shapes and Paul Klee I love the way he manipulates watercolour and his colour harmonies.

Pattern, design and lots of fluid paint. How much fun can one person have? There's a lot more painting to be done but I thought I'd show you the underpainting in watercolour using green gold, transparent turquoise and a touch of indanthrene blue.

Pages