A gentle tide - monoprint

 

A Gentle Tide   monoprint 9.5x9.5cm   ©2026LisaLeQuelenec

Ohhhh I do love monoprinting! It is such an immediate and responsive way to work and generate ideas. I love the diffused tones that can be achieved....drawing with ink .....the suggestive marks...the messiness of it all (at least when I do it).

This is one of my favourite ones from a recent monoprinting session. It has the movement of the tide that I was aiming for. It is available here in my Folksy store.

New Coastal Monoprints

 

Winter Moon   monoprint 12.5x12.5cm   ©2026LisaLeQuelenec

More monoprints from recent printing sessions....

 Moonshine   monoprint 12.5x12.5cm   ©2026LisaLeQuelenec

A collection are available in my Folksy store.

Night Tide - collagraph variations

 

Night Tide    varied edition collagraphs    ©2025LisaLeQuelenec

One plate, an edition of 4 all, varied in the inking of the collagraph plate measuring 12.5x12.5cm.

One memory, a hot and humid evening watching summer storm clouds gathering across the bay. Metallic tasting air, an expectant silence.... then a sultry breeze and a rush back to the car before the storm broke and the rain fell in torrents. It is funny how a storm can stay with you for years, nestled away in your memory ready to be brought out and relived.

It feels quite apt to be posting about them now given the recent bit of weather the UK has been experiencing.

Night Tide - prints available at Folksy ©2026LisaLeQuelenec

The prints are available in my Folksy store.

Night Tide Artist Proof with mixed media ©2026LisaLeQuelenec

I tested the collagraph plate with these two proof prints and made a couple of adjustments before printing this small edition of four in blue black indigo ink. The six images together feel like they tell the story of that summer evening - each one a snap shot in time.

Night Tide Artist Proof with mixed media ©2026LisaLeQuelenec

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, 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.

Scintillating II & III - drypoint prints

 

Scintillating II   drypoint 8x15cm   ©2025LisaLeQuelenec

Hot on the heels of the first print no.2  and no.3 in the series.

Prints in the edition are available in my Folksy and Etsy stores.

Scintillating II   drypoint 8x15cm   ©2025LisaLeQuelenec

Scintillating III   drypoint 8x15cm   ©2025LisaLeQuelenec

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 - Bara, Unnor & Dufa

Bara - first experiment   mixed media   ©2025LisaLeQuelenec

The tempo is quickening....the breeze grows in strength....something is brewing.

Unnor  first experiment    mixed media   ©2025LisaLeQuelenec

Dufa   first experiment    mixed media   ©2025LisaLeQuelenec

A stronger current, colder, deeper waters, a more insistent tug to the depths.

textures and colour mixing on my ink palette   ©2025LisaLeQuelenec

Ran's Daughters - Himinglæva, Kólga & Hrönn

 

Himinglæva - colour inspiration and first experiement    mixed media   ©2025LisaLeQuelenec

Colour inspiration for mixing ink   ©2025LisaLeQuelenec

Kólga - first experiment   mixed media   ©2025LisaLeQuelenec

Colour inspiration   ©2025LisaLeQuelenec

Ink mix and Hrönn first experiment   mixed media ©2025LisaLeQuelenec

So far these ladies have been a little playful but I think we are about to see a sea change....

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

The beginning of the nine daughters of Ran

 

Making connections -  Ran's daughters   print and mixed media    ©2025LisaLeQuelenec

Ran had nine daughters whose names were;

Blóðughadda - (bloody hair - maybe the threadlike appearance of water from the crest of a wave)

Bylgia - (billowing)

Dröfn or Bára (comber/foaming wave)

Dúfa - (wave)

Hefring or Hefrenög - (lifting)

Himinglæva - (transparent on top)

Hrönn - (wave)

Kólga - (cool wave)

Uðr or Unnor - (wave and also a name for Odin and the name of a river)

Information taken from Wikipedia Page  Nine Daughters of Aegir and Ran

First steps in a new project... feeling my way... ideas forming....one line for each measure on the scale from calm to chaos.... the last to represent Ran.... a progression of colour and tone from pale to dark/deep...loose connections....drifting ideas...

Drawing plan for the Daughters of Ran   ©2025LisaLeQuelenec