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 - 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

Mixed media - A Flick of the Tail & On the Brink

 

Sketchbook study page for Ran's Net Project watercolour and watersoluble pencils ©2025LisaLeQuelenec

pre-painting sketch... 

Stage 1 - 4 for A Flick of the Tail 30x30cm mixed media ©2025LisaLeQuelenec

Stage 1 - tissue paper, calico and a little acrylic medium...just making loose shapes and the gist of the composition. 

Stage 2 - pale areas of colour in acrylic.

Stage 3 - building up tones and colours.

Stage 4 - adding more tone, refining edges, flinging and spattering paint. This was the ugly stage where I lived with the painting for a few days. I tried to sneak up on it and take it by surprise but would retreat muttering to myself. I think I had gotten too dark too soon and wanted to bring back some light, I couldn't decide if I needed to make it feel less solid and more gentle/fluid or keep the harsh solidity of stormy water.

A Flick of the Tail   mixed media on canvas board 30x30cm   ©2025LisaLeQuelenec

I decided to warm things a little and remove some of the contrast. A little more spattering and texture in the paint - I wanted to capture a split second of time - a 'did I just see that?' moment... a playful teasing.  

At the Brink   mixed media 30x30cm   ©2025LisaLeQuelenec

In contrast this piece shows a slightly more feisty side...the literal net is out (fruit netting from a bag of plums adhered to the board with acrylic medium) and ready to capture what it may. This is no playful splash but the brink of something that could become more sinister. I wanted to show the pressure of water about to pound down and a net waiting to engulf and drag off in the back wash. 

Snippet from a photo of the inside of a mussel shell ©2025LisaLeQuelenec

The shapes, colours and textures from this little section of a mussel shell interior that has been sat on my desk quietly waited for me to notice it's connection to the painting.  It too had been rolled around and most likely pounded by the sea.

A little softening of the contrasts and areas of the wave and the painting is now complete.

At the Brink   mixed media on canvas board 30x30cm   ©2025LisaLeQuelenec

Working on these two pieces simultaneously allowed them to influence and speak to each other. By sharing base materials, format and palette I hope to portray their connection even though each is an extreme of  disposition or emotion. I think this series is going to be a challenge, interesting but a challenge.

Both of these paintings are available in my Etsy store.

Ran's net - a new project for 2025

 

I am slowly easing my way back into work trying to find my thread from before the holidays. I had been picking up from a project half started a long time ago back in the days of home school during the lockdowns... A project inspired by a Norse mythology book shared with my son.

One character captured my imagination, a Goddess named Ran (a personification of the ocean) who possessed a net which gathered sailors drowned at sea. She is both the cause and the consequence. I can't find many mentions of her in the texts that I have read and it is that most likely that elusiveness  which has intrigued me....

I have so many notes and post-its and scribbles and thumbnails that I think it is time to start collating my thoughts together.

Sketchbook Snippet - Ran's Net  watercolour and watersoluble pencils ©2024LisaLeQuelenec

Sketchbook Snippet - Ran's Net  watercolour and watersoluble pencils ©2024LisaLeQuelenec

Sketchbook Snippet - Ran's Net  watercolour and watersoluble pencils ©2024LisaLeQuelenec

I have been going back through my notes and experiments - firstly a very textured detail from a collagraph plate using tile adhesive and aluminium foil tape. This was just a small part that I kept as I loved the texture and colours so much. It's not much more than a snippet but I couldn't part with it.

Collagraph printing plate section   ©2024LisaLeQuelenec

Second, a section of a ghost print ( a second printing of a plate without adding extra ink) that I worked into with collage, watercolour and coloured pencil. I regularly make a ghost print as fodder for experimenting with new ideas. I like the idea of work continuing, evolving and a continuous thread connecting pieces and projects - many tides, one ocean.

Another connection for these details is the strong 'V' composition that I seem to regularly circle back to.

Detail from a print worked into with mixed media ©2024LisaLeQuelenec

Piddock shell fragments ©2024LisaLeQuelenec

Broken but oh so beautiful fragments of piddock shells, inspiring textures and compositions.

Colour inspiration from beach finds ©2025LisaLeQuelenec