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

Ran's Glimmers - drypoint with mixed media

 

Sketchbook experiments in mixed media ©2025LisaLeQuelenec

'...have gold, so if lost at sea you aren't empty handed to Ran's hall'

- Fridhjaf's saga

Golden tributes thrown over the side of the boat to appease Ran for a safe crossing whilst a recurring theme in many mythologies is to pay the boatman for crossing into the next life. The more about mythology that I read the more connections I make between peoples and cultures, we are more alike than not. The same worries and fears even over vast distances and time, I wish we could remember that a bit more.

 

Ghost print from Scintillating II with mixed media ©2025LisaLeQuelenec

Ran's Glimmers   ©2025LisaLeQuelenec

The gold mica paint is from a set by Kuretake - Gansai Tambi Starry Colours which is a range of 6 from silver pearl to a deep rich gold. 

Ran, nets and print experiements...

I have been having much fun experimenting with different types of netting and getting very inky whilst printing them....

Example no.1 fruit bag netting from the supermarket ©2025LisaLeQuelenec

First up, example no.1 fruit netting from the supermarket - very fine nylon, easy to rip and manipulate although does sometimes spring back unless very stretched out first. In some examples the ink collects at the join and prints spots of ink within the diamond shapes. This type of net gives very uniform shapes.

Example no.3 net from the haberdashery shop used for dance skirt petticoats   ©2025LisaLeQuelenec

Example no.2 is the type of netting that I think would be used to make the big petticoats in some dance costumes - we have a big dance school in the area so I think this is a safe guess. The sparkle glitter bit did break off whilst ripping and manipulating the material but didn't really effect the result in the ink. As you can see it has a much bolder line to the main body and I really like the edges where I have ripped and stretched it. With a bit more experimenting I think more subtle effects could be have by controlling the amount of ink added.

Example No. 3 a thick weave hessian ©2025LisaLeQuelenec

Example no.3 Hessian made even bolder marks and the bonus of this material is where you can pull threads out completely from the weave. I like the effect where it starts to completely fall apart and is literally holding itself together by a thread or two. This one was the 'thirstiest' material and held a lot of ink. More subtle marks were made by not re-inking between prints which is something for me to remember.

Example no.4 Scrim ©2025LisaLeQuelenec

Example no.4 Scrim is another fabric that can be manipulated easily, have thread ripped out from the weave and generally stands up to a lot of abuse. The weave is much tighter and the resulting print can be much more subtle and dense. I think it needs a lot of threads pulling for a net like structure but I like the resulting print.

Whilst running example through the press on top of misprints and practise prints I used copier paper to protect the press blankets. This has given me lots of sheets with reverse prints that I can use as sketch paper for drawing into. I might make a sketchbook from them at a later date.

 

Sketchbook Experiment Stage 1 collagraph and mixed media ©2025

Sketchbook Experiment Stage 2 collagraph and mixed media overprinted with hessian netting ©2025

Sketchbook Experiment Stage 3 collagraph and mixed media overprinted with netting and further added mixed media©2025

Lots more experimenting to do, ideas are starting to form about where these experiments can take me in my Ran project.

The Nine Daughters of Ran - first edition complete

 

Nine Daughters of Ran   print and mixed media   ©2025LisaLeQuelenec

The first set of Ran's daughters completed, each daughter mounted onto A4 paper with handprinted and painted net that binds them and suggests the presence of their mother Ran.

My intention had been to bind the daughters into a book format, a concertina so that they could be viewed in a linear format as below in this mock up.

Nine Daughters of Ran   print and mixed media   ©2025LisaLeQuelenec

I thought that this would be a good way of displaying the progression from calm to stormy waters, shallows to the deep. To be able to do this I think they need to be on a smaller scale and I should have thought through the practicalities at the beginning as needing to join sheets to make a long enough concertina became clumsy and distracting. If I were to exhibit and present this set I think they might actually work better framed individually so maybe this isn't as much of a set back as I made it in my  head.

I intend to do nine editions of the nine images using the same base lino blocks, each with different inking and different hand finishing - same sea but different tides - as each set of nine will be made over a long period of time I expect each to develop in different ways with different outcomes and I am thinking different ways of being presented. The idea of binding in a book isn't completely abandoned just yet and is probably something that I will return to, time will tell.

This first set is one that I will keep, a keystone for how the project will develop which may take some years. I am releasing them as prints on RedBubble  individually, in threes and as a print of all nine together in the formats below, they are also available as greeting cards.

Ran's Daughters Blóðughadda, Himinglæva & Kólga   prints available at RedBubble   ©2025LisaLeQuelenec

Ran's Daughters Hrönn, Bara & Unnor   prints available at RedBubble   ©2025LisaLeQuelenec

Ran's Daughters  Dufa, Bylgia & Hefring   prints available at RedBubble   ©2025LisaLeQuelenec

Nine Daughters of Ran   prints available at RedBubble   ©2025LisaLeQuelenec

As a February side quest for the darkest month this project has grown considerably, I had no idea at the start I would be completing just a first round in May. I am hoping that I will discover more about the mythology surrounding these ladies and also parallels with other myths from around the world their commonality and differences; the sirens, selkies and mermaids come to mind and I am sure there are many others as I cast nets in waters outside of Europe. I am sure that these stories passed along trade routes with a bit from here and a bit from there added and missed along the way but with a core of similarities. Maybe you have suggestions that I could research I would love to hear.

Ran's Daughters - Blóðughadda first steps and experiments

 

Colour inspiration - ©2025LisaLeQuelenec

Daughter no.1 Blóðughadda ;

Mixing ink and applying with a palette knife   ©2025LisaLeQuelenec

I began with mixing my inks using quite a bit of extender to aid transparency. To apply the ink to the lino block I used a palette knife varying the thickness of ink and intuitively laying down the colour. Whilst the initial image is starting as a lino print my intention is to layer different materials and techniques to result in a mixed media series. The print process will achieve a variation in textures that will enhance further layers.

The first six prints showing variations in ink application ©2025LisaLeQuelenec

 

You can see from the first six prints the variations in colour and tone. There is also good variations in texture between very fine flat ink and thicker raised areas and bare paper, this will make interesting surfaces to work with other materials.

I printed a few more variations, my intention is to make some art books (a page for each daughter) and it feels right that there will be nine - maybe with Ran linking each page, or possibly to present each of the daughters mounted as one image. I am sure I will disappear down a few rabbit holes along the way. It feels good to be working on a big long term project. 

I have started using one print and drew into it with coloured pencils, pencils and ink. I am still feeling my way a bit. A minutes sunshine drew some lovely shadows across the page.

Colour inspiration - ©2025LisaLeQuelenec

Experiment I - Ran's Daughters - Blóðughadda   mixed media   ©2025LisaLeQuelenec