Briny Blue - Ran's many moods

 

Three Stages of Briny Blue I  mixed media ©2025LisaLeQuelenec 

WIPs in one post don't give any idea of the time lapse in the making of them but here we are. So many ideas and pieces are flowing at the moment and I feel like I am running to catching up with myself. Both of these started as prints, then added watercolour and into acrylic. Lots of small layers and adjustments, tweeks here and there, backwards and forwardsing. 

Both pieces are available in my Folksy store.  There will be more to come...

Briny Blue I   mixed media   ©2025LisaLeQuelenec

Three Stages of Briny Blue II   mixed media ©2025LisaLeQuelenec

  Briny Blue II  mixed media ©2025LisaLeQuelenec

mixed media ©2025LisaLeQuelenec

Below the Brine - Ran's many moods

Below the Brine I   print and mixed media 20x21cm   ©2025LisaLeQuelenec

The ambiguity of the Ran myth intrigues me still. I am attracted to the relatable human quality of her moods...calm, playful, stern, raging... not many female characters are able to be more than one thing in mythology that I have read about - women are either good or evil, victims or villains, virgins or seducers - Ran could be any or all of these. I wonder if the oral tradition of these myths were still alive if her character would be more black and white or just as ambiguous. My hope would be the ambiguous - like the ocean able to change in a heartbeat - how much more interesting and realistic.

Three calmer and possibly more playful moods in Below the Brine but the net is still there glinting and dazzling, waiting, biding its time or with the potential to change?... 

Below the Brine II in three stages   print and mixed media 20x21cm   ©2025LisaLeQuelenec

Below the Brine III   print and mixed media 20x21cm   ©2025LisaLeQuelenec

Deeply Darkly I & II - Ran's many moods

 

Deeply Darkly   print and mixed media 20x21cm    ©2025LisaLeQuelenec

Further explorations into Ran's many moods. I am enjoying the linear elements in the compositions which I think give an added chaotic energy and tension. What do you think?

These pieces are available at Folksy and Etsy.

Deeply Darkly II   print and mixed media 20x21cm    ©2025LisaLeQuelenec

Submerge / Descend monoprint and mixed media

 

I was itching to play with my usual inky blues so indulged myself for a day with some monoprinting...

Submerge monoprint and mixed media 9.5x15cm   ©2024LisaLeQuelenec

Details from a lino stamp used in pebble monoprints   ©2024LisaLeQuelenec

I enjoyed experimenting with layers of thick and thin ink and how they interacted. I used lots of ink extender for very thin and transparent layers (it works much like glaze medium in oil and acrylic painting). Once the prints were dry some pebbles were collaged in and extra white ink drawn in to enhance the light/current/flow. I wanted the feeling of being pulled gently under water.

Descend I -IV   monoprint and mixed media 9.5x15cm   ©2024LisaLeQuelenec

The same prints just playing with layouts - seeing how they speak to each other/if they speak to each other.

Descend I - IV   monoprint and mixed media 9.5x15cm   ©2024LisaLeQuelenec

Sometimes erosion seems to happen quickly and violently as in a storm but sometimes it is the persistent, gradual and slow process of wearing surfaces over many years that leads up to the big event. I think this is true of painting/printing too. Some days you feel like you have made leaps in your work but it is all the days where tiny little steps have been made that are important to get to your goal. Slow and persistent - the message that I take from the sea.

The two prints at the top in the above photograph are available in my Etsy store  and the lower two are available in my Folksy store.

Flow monoprint and mixed media

With the Easter holidays over and my son back at school I have been getting busy reopening my Etsy Store. Amongst the new works available are pieces from this pebble project including the three pieces below. 

Flow I   21x30cm mono and mixed media   ©2024LisaLeQuelenec

These pieces have proved so difficult to photograph. I have tried so many backgrounds and on so many days with differing light but I think this is the closest I am going to get. In reality the backing paper of the prints are a couple of shades warmer but the pebble shapes are accurate on my screen. These are a mixture of print, collage and drawing on A4 Lokta paper.

Flow II   21x30cm mono and mixed media   ©2024LisaLeQuelenec

Flow III   21x30cm mono and mixed media   ©2024LisaLeQuelenec

Tracing sunshine reflected from my mug - a timed drawing   ©2024LisaLeQuelenec

From the photographs above you can see where some of the inspiration for the drawing came from. The sun was shining brightly (briefly) through the window and reflecting on a mug of pencils on to the desk top. I traced the reflections onto a scrap of paper then about 30 mins later as the sun had moved slightly and when it reappeared I traced again. I would have kept going but the sky clouded over and the rain came. I will set up another drawing on another sunny day and trace the sun's progress across the sky in it's reflections, It might be an interesting experiment and result in some interesting distortions.

Rockpool lino series continued & my 600th post

 

Rockpool   lino print on paper   ©2023LisaLeQuelenec

I thought I would share a little more of this rockpool series. I have been printing slightly larger compositions on A4 paper and adding in some more different motifs. I love the delicacy of the seaweed, I think they are a good contrast to the more solid shapes of the pebbles and limpets. Other shells are starting to appear in this little ecosystem. I might be slightly in love with little yellow winkles ;o) they are appearing in all of these larger compositions.

I might try out some spicy hot colours next - yellows, rusty oranges and coral. I dabbled with this combination in the A5 ones but might try upscaling that palette again. I struggle with the hotter end of the spectrum so it will be a challenge. Notice how I said coral and not red - red may be a step to far! Red makes me feel out of control and a bit shouty. Do you have a colour that you avoid in your work? 

Can you believe this is my   600th   post!!! I certainly can't. What a bloggerversary! I feel like I have made so many friends online - we might not get to meet in real life but I feel no less richer for that. Thank you for reading along and to the people who take the time, I appreciate all your comments. To all those who don't I appreciate you too! Thank you.

Carving and inking the plates for the Rockpool Series  ©2023LisaLeQuelenec

Rockpool   lino print on paper   ©2023LisaLeQuelenec

All four A4ish prints in the Rockpool series as well as the smaller prints are all available in my Folksy store.  Best wishes.

Rockpool series - lino monoprints

 

Rockpool Series   approximately 14x20cm lino monoprints   ©2023LisaLeQuelenec

I have sadly neglected my blog this last few weeks due to a number of things - just life keeping me out of mischief rather than paint or ink - but I haven't been completely idle. A new series of work is underway which is really quite different to the gulls I had been painting. With the arrival of longer Spring days and a little more sunshine I have been feeling the season. Of course I am still roaming the coast but I have been turning more attention to rockpools and the memories of the ones we explored in Jersey on my last trip....back to limpets and limpet rings, summery colours and the joyous feeling of long Summer days. Fresh breezy colours and simplified shapes are dominating at the moment with a little green creeping in at the edges.

Rockpool Series   13x17.5cm   lino monoprint   ©2023LisaLeQuelenec

Rockpool Series   approximately 14x20cm lino monoprints with added drawing  ©2023LisaLeQuelenec

Added drawing and mark making and then with the promise of some hot sun to come....golden yellow. All the images here are available to purchase from my  Folksy Store. I am enjoying this series immensely and can see lots of ways for it to develop so I will get back to my sketchbook and try a few more experiments, I wonder which path I will take next.

Rockpool Series   approximately 14x20cm lino monoprints with added drawing  ©2023LisaLeQuelenec

A failed monoprint...a nugget of inspiration - WIP

Study for where the wild things are   monoprint and mixed media 15x15cm   ©2023LisaLeQuelenec

Below a failed monoprint...with potential....I worked back into it with coloured pencils and acrylic paint... a nugget of an idea is forming... I think the scale needs to be bigger...I want to stretch my wings a little...

Gulls and cliff   monoprint  15x15cm   ©2023LisaLeQuelenec

Gulls, storms and monoprints

 

A little monoprint experimenting has been occurring... thinking in ink...sometimes unexpected things happen which lead to new ideas to explore. That happened with this print below. The plate for some reason known only to the gods of print slid in the press making these lovely marks suggesting cliffs. My work is usually of the sea from the shore or clifftop but now I am thinking in terms of from the sea/sky. Ideas are percolating slowly forming more thinking in ink is needed....

Listening to the Wind   monoprint and mixed media   ©2023LisaLeQuelenec

The print below on the left is where I had been intending to go. A monoprint with an embossed gull shape in the lower margin. I am still toying with the idea of including text within my work, slowly trying things out and experimenting. The version on the left is a digital copy with added text.. I am unsure so have photocopied and written on it/tried a fully digitised version in photoshop...I am still unsure. What are your thoughts? Which do you prefer? I think maybe in this image the text is a little too big and obvious....? I will live with them for a while.

...and the gulls cry...   monoprint and mixed media   ©2023LisaLeQuelenec

This print was pulled from the plate after the one above, I added and wiped extra ink to the remnants, playing with marks. If the one above was as the storm was building then this one would be the storm from within. Same composition very different energy.

 Storm Spray   monoprint and mixed media   ©2023LisaLeQuelenec

For now I will go back to thinking in ink, exploring, pushing pulling the ideas and experimenting to see where it will lead.

Swooping and circling - gull sketchbook page and monoprint

If you spend any time at the shore you will find yourself watching the gulls swooping, circling, gliding and diving. I feel I may just have some gull in my genes as I circle back to them in my work again and again. I am mulling over how to approach it this time around.

Sketchbook page - gull studies ©LisaLeQuelenec

Old sketchbook pages - looking back and moving forward - looking at shapes and trying ideas. At the end of a project I store all my reference materials, sketchbooks and experiments and notes in a folder. I often return to subjects when something new catches my eye or an idea for combinations or new connections are made. Sometimes just revisiting a folder strikes up new ideas on its own. It is good to have all the visual stimulus in one place waiting to be plundered again. 

 I think some monoprinting may be in order to think in ink.

Gliding   13x13cm monoprint   ©2023LisaLeQuelenec   


This monoprint is available in my Folksy store.

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.