A spring sale on Folksy of little treasures - sea shells on the seashore

 

Spring sale until the end of April at Folksy  ©2024LisaLeQuelenec

Spring is slow in coming and I am dreaming of warmer, sunny, summer days so I thought I would have a little sale over in my Folksy store. These little treasures have been collected over the years from beaches visited or observed in aquariums and as museum specimens. They look lovely as collections or on their own - maybe as a gallery wall with your own collected treasures.

I am offering them with 40% off the usual retail price until the end of April - P&P depends on how far they have to travel to your part of the world. In the past many have crossed oceans to find new homes sometimes on the coast and some further inland. It is always fun for me to see where they will wash up next.

Spring sale until the end of April at Folksy  ©2024LisaLeQuelenec

Spring sale until the end of April at Folksy  ©2024LisaLeQuelenec

Spring sale until the end of April at Folksy  ©2024LisaLeQuelenec

 

Spring sale until the end of April at Folksy  ©2024LisaLeQuelenec

Spring sale until the end of April at Folksy  ©2024LisaLeQuelenec

Spring sale until the end of April at Folksy  ©2024LisaLeQuelenec

End of summer studio sale on Folksy

 

Something new for me.... a little end of summer studio sale.

I had a few paintings returned from an exhibition and as the mountboard colour has been discontinued I can no longer replicate the framing. So I thought I should pop them in the shop unframed at a discounted rate. 

Sale watercolours mounted to fit 40x50cm available individually in my Folksy store ©2022LisaLeQuelenec

Looking around the studio and through my plan chest I have found a few more paintings and prints which I have made available at discounted rates. Some are older pieces that just haven't found a home yet, some were artist proof prints where I tested colours before editioning. 

Scallop watercolour mounted to fit frame size 40x50cm ©2022LisaLeQuelenec

Urchins watercolour mounted to fit frame size 40x50cm ©2022LisaLeQuelenec

Starfish watercolour mounted to fit frame size 40x50cm ©2022LisaLeQuelenec

Three feathers watercolour mounted to fit frame size 40x50cm ©2022LisaLeQuelenec

I have set up a separate section in my Folksy store where they can all be viewed together for the next couple of weeks here.

Do you see anything you like?

Sea worn textures shaped by the tide

 

Sea worn and sun bleached   ©2022LisaLeQuelenec

We are experiencing a heatwave here in the UK. I find hot summer days a trial at the best of times without it going to extremes so I'm not looking forward to the weekend and early part of next week. Instead of heading to the beach I will be inside with my collections revisiting inspirations already found. 

Arranging my beach findings, photographing and playing digitally with them always inspires new colour combinations, marks, textures etc, It is something to take time over and meditate on, to recognise connections and I don't get frustrated with paint or ink drying too quickly ;o) although a sketchbook will probably be pulled out for a play at some point. So that is where I will be for a while, looking at pretty things and refilling the well. I hope you enjoy the sunshine if that is your thing and if not enjoy the shade like me. Best wishes.

Watercolour treasures from the beach

 

Scallop shell study   watercolour 21x30cm approximately   ©2021LisaLeQuelenec

 

 

I've been spending a bit of time getting my shop back together over on Etsy. A few new watercolour shell studies have been added and I will add more work in the coming weeks. I will continue to post on Mondays and Thursdays for the forseeable but if you need something more urgently please do contact me to see what can be arranged. If your intended purchase is a gift I can always post it directly to the recipient with a note if you let me know the details.

 

Seahorse, urchin and starfish studies available individually   watercolour 21x30cm approximately   ©2021LisaLeQuelenec

Beach Treasures in mixed media

Beach Treasures   etching and mixed media    ©2018LisaLeQuelenec

Following on from the etchings in last weeks post I couldn't resist playing with a set in coloured pencil. I have scanned them and made the available as cards and reproduction prints on Redbubble .

Beach treasures   etching and coloured pencil   ©2018LisaLeQuelenec

Beach treasures etchings and process

Sketches and preliminary sketchbook work for the Beach Treasures etching ©2018LisaLeQuelenec

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.

Concept sketch for Beach Treasures etching plates ©2018LisaLeQuelenec

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.

The plates all ready for printing - Beach treasures ©2018LisaLeQueleenc

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.

Beach treasures I, II & III   original etchings, first artists proof prints mounted to 30x50cm   ©2018LisaLeQuelenec

Beach treasures I, II & III   original etchings, second artists proof prints mounted to 30x50cm   ©2018LisaLeQuelenec

Beach Treasures I, II & III   etchings 6.5x13.5cm   ©2018LisaLeQuelenec

New watercolour shells added to the collection

Chambered nautilus cross section   21x30cm approx watercolour on paper   ©2018LisaLeQuelenec

The sun has finally started to shine bringing a little Spring warmth with it and after heading to the beach for a while I am in the mood for these warmer aqua blues....

I hope the sun is shining for you.

Sea Urchin 21x30cm approx watercolour on paper ©2018LisaLeQuelenec

Starfish 21x30cm approx watercolour on paper ©2018LisaLeQuelenec

All three are available at here on Etsy.

Beach treasure; Collections III

Beach collections III   watercolour on paper 20x24cm approx   ©2017LisaLeQuelenec

I had hoped to have no. IV ready as well but it is quite pale and hasn't been easy to scan so will need a bit more work. I have been rather enjoying these and the concentration on tiny details.

No.III is also available at RedBubble. 

July's moon and Indigo

July's Full Moon   sketchbook page A6   ©2017LisaLeQuelenec

This month's full moon was a real treat! It was big, bright and beautiful. The last light of the setting sun combined with the inky cloud made for a lovely colour combination of palest aqua, indigo, cobalt and soft ochre and sienna. It was quite a display. Trying to sketch in the dark so that I could watch all the colours changing was quite a challenge and I really couldn't do it justice but it was fun to try anyway.

I have read that some Native American tribes call the full moon in July the Thunder Moon because of the hot and humid storms that can arrive at this time. In Europe it was sometimes called the Mead Moon, (a drink made from fermenting honey, yeast and water.) because it occurs at the same time as larger honey yields. I know parts of the country have had a good display of storms but whilst it has been hot here and we have had our share of rain to clear the air there has been no thunder or lightening so far - we do have many honey bees busy in the garden though.





After night sky watching I have been inspired to paint the velvety blues and a set of inky coloured watercolour shells have been the result. All six are available individually at Seaside Studios UK
 

Shell studies in blue and indigo   21x30cm approx each   ©2017Lisa Le Quelenec

More treasures from the ocean...

Ocean treasures   3 21x30cm approx. each   ©2016Lisa Le Quelenec

I enjoyed doing the previous posts paintings so much that I carried on with some more....just on a little bit bigger scale. It felt nice to stretch.

Sea Urchin - solar etching

Urchin - A/P1   solar etching   21x15cm   ©2016Lisa Le Quelenec

Having signed up for a second term of printmaking at the Arts University Bournemouth last year I was very excited to learn that we would have the opportunity to try our hand at solar etching. This technique appeals to me as there is no acid involved and so is something safer for me to do at home whilst I have an inquisitive toddler roaming around.

Solar etching uses a light sensitive polymer coated plate to transfer an image from a clear film. The image could be a photograph or drawing photocopied onto acetate or something made directly onto a transparent sheet. I chose to work directly and so onto a piece of plastic I drew with alcohol based drawing pens making a variety of marks and building up the density to get a good variation of tone.

Urchin   drawing on acetate   ©2016Lisa Le Quelenec

Once this was complete the plate was first prepared using an 'aquatint' sheet ( a sheet of film that has a very, very fine and even tone, digitally print and so dotted surface). Laying the plate onto this sheet and exposing it in a lightbox meant that I would get a more subtle variation in tones from my plate when I processed my drawing. Next the drawing is placed on the lightbox with the plate on top and exposed. Moving quickly so as not to over expose the plate to too much extra light it was placed in a bath of warm water to wash off the light sensitive coating using a soft brush. (You know that the coating is fully removed when the plate no longer feels slimy to touch.) The final stage in plate preparation is to give the plate a further exposure in the lightbox to 'harden' off. Once this has been done the plate is ready to be inked up and run through the press in the same way a traditional etching plate. The plates are very strong and a fairly large edition can be achieved without loss of image quality.

(The timings of exposure vary from lightbox to lightbox but this process can also be done using direct sunlight but as the strength of light isn't as controlled the results can be harder to predict so I am told.) Roll on summer as I am seeing this process featuring again in my future. I would like to experiment with using different materials to do the drawing with for a wider variety of marks maybe chinagraph pencils, ink/paint applied with brushes.... also using photocopies of paintings and drawings perhaps?

Urchin drawing, plate and print ©2016Lisa Le Quelenec

For now I am experimenting with inking up the plate and seeing what I can do with it. Different ways of manipulating the ink on the plate are giving exciting results. The centre print was inked up using a roller as if it was a relief block.

Urchin A/P 2,3&4 solar etching   21x15cm   ©2016Lisa Le Quelenec

Sea shell notebooks

Well I don't know where my mind is at because I thought I had posted about these weeks ago. It seems I saved the post as a draft instead of publishing it.


A little side project that I had been working on...

A5 Sea Urchin notebook hand painted in acrylic ©2014Lisa Le Quelenec

Detail of A5 Sea Urchin notebook hand painted in acrylic ©2014Lisa Le Quelenec

There are six in the series and they are available in my Etsy Shop here .