August's Spiral drawing

 

August's spiral shell drawing pencil and ink on paper ©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. 

June's Spiral drawing - unidentified shell

 

June's spiral drawing for 2025   pencil on toned sketchbook page   ©2025LisaLeQuelenec

This shell had lots of lumps and bumps to navigate and textures too. The spines were satisfying to draw - some had received a bit of damage to their tips but I think it adds to its character. 

This year is running away fast. Can you believe that it is June already? It doesn't feel like I have done six spiral drawings already this year and yet here they are...

Detail of June's spiral drawing for 2025   pencil on toned sketchbook page   ©2025LisaLeQuelenec

Scintillating - drypoint etching print

 

Taking a line for a walk  sketchbook page 8x15cm approx   ©2025LisaLeQuelenec

I have so many sketches like this - scribbly lines that I have drawn trying to capture the lines and movement in wind disturbed water. I must have spent days maybe weeks worth of hours watching and listening to where the breeze ruckles and ruffles one area more than another, looking at edges and tonal patterns, feeling the differentials of air, smelling and tasting the salt, observing the sun scintillating across the surface. Although a full sensory experience it is also a calming and soothing way to spend time, maybe the hypnotic patterns blow away any worries that I have.

Taking a number of sketches and memories I have made a drypoint which I think maybe the first in a series of explorations of these scribbles and thoughtnotes.

Scintillating   drypoint etching and plate ©2025LisaLeQuelenec

Scintillating   drypoint etching 8x15cm   ©2025LisaLeQuelenec

This print is available in my Folksy store and I have added a second proof print to my Etsy Store. There will be a varies edition of around ten prints once I have finished with this plate but I was getting to impatient and had to share this one with you now ;o)

Spiral drawing for May - 3 for 1 shells

 

May's spiral drawing for 2025   pencil on toned sketchbook page   ©2025LisaLeQuelenec

I started but I couldn't stop! Three spirals for May as they are getting quite addictive. I'm chasing my tail still trying to catch up on projects that I feel should have been finished already. Sometimes things take longer than you think. I was hoping to be able to have the Ran's Daughters project finished and ready to share buy the end on April but it hasn't quite worked out that way. I am getting close though... even with distracting spiral drawings in the mix.

May's spiral drawing for 2025   pencil on toned sketchbook page   ©2025LisaLeQuelenec

May's spiral drawing for 2025   pencil on toned sketchbook page   ©2025LisaLeQuelenec

April's Spiral Drawing - Queen conch

 

March Spiral Drawing - pencil and ink on toned paper ©2025LisaLeQuelenec

Sliding in at the end on the month with April's spiral drawing. This one was especially difficult to capture the spiral and descending order of size in the protrusions a couple of which were also bendy and different to the others. Isn't nature wonderful in all her perfect imperfections? She kept me on my toes anyway.

 

March spiral drawing - common winkle

 

March Spiral Drawing - pencil on toned paper ©2025LisaLeQuelenec

The common winkle is a lovely little thing that come in a variety of colours and shades. Yellows are my favourite and I can't resist picking them up. I do always check to make sure that no one is home before they head to my pocket. They look like little jewels in the rockpools and washed up on the shore. As you can see the child in me still sorts them into colours.

Common winkles ©2025LisaLeQuelenec

I think I may have collected rather a lot over the years....

Common winkles ©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

Spirals for January and February

 

My drawing challenge for 2025....spirals! I did do the drawing below in January but failed to blog about it as I was so caught up with Ran and ginkgo patterns! I am using a mid-toned sketchbook that I have had for a long time but keep forgetting that I have. I think it will be nice to keep all of these drawings together. 

Wentletrap   pencil and ink on toned paper A4ish   ©2025LisaLeQuelenec

A new to me shell, found at Christmas though not by me. This is a common wentletrap - I think - found in Jersey. It has been on my bucket list to find one of these for years. You can see how small it is next to the drawing maybe about 2.5cm... A tricky subject with it's prominent verticals climbing up the spiral. Fun to try to draw though.

Wentletrap   pencil and ink on toned paper A4ish   ©2025LisaLeQuelenec

February's spiral was even trickier...I attempted this one a few times as I kept losing my place in the spiral markings as well as the spiral form.

Sundial Shell   pencil and ink on toned paper A4ish   ©2025LisaLeQuelenec

Sundial Shell   pencil and ink on toned paper A4ish   ©2025LisaLeQuelenec

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

Headland and a Sudden Shower - etching and drypoint prints

 

Headland    etching 6x6cm   ©2024LisaLeQuelenec

It certainly is starting to feel autumnal now with noticeably darker mornings and evenings. Occasionally more dramatic skies and rain showers and a mellowness in the air. I have been reprinting and restocking some of my older plates which are now available in my Etsy Store with prints from these edition at Folksy too.

I have been inspired to work on some new larger prints. I am still in the platemaking and testing stage but hope to have something to show soon. Below are the initial sketchbook thumbnails - these are tiny inch square sketches/ideas - I am working out how to translate them into larger images, how far I can push the boundaries of the plate size before the image is lost. 

Sketchbook thumbnails for the Heavy Weather Series ©2024LisaLeQuelenec

A Sudden Shower   10.5x5.5xm  drypoint etching   ©2024LisaLeQuelenec

Pounding waves - sketchbook page

 

Sketchbook page - watercolour, pencils and acrylic pen ©2024LisaLeQuelenec

After some exacting, delicate and detail work it is always nice to break out into a sketchbook for some pounding surf. You can see in this photo how the paper was starting to get destroyed as the surface balled up. I will be having a mini blogging break for the next couple of weeks to catch up on real life things but will be back soon. Have a great week!

A little blue book of blue

Sketchbook pages from my little blue book. I'm about halfway through this little square sketchbook (14x14cm) it has a blue cover as apposed to the usual black ones and so I am using only blue inside....a bit easier for me I know. Maybe next time I will brave a red cover and only use red...only joking!  I don't think I could manage that.

From my Little Blue Book  ©2024LisaLeQuelenec

From my Little Blue Book  ©2024LisaLeQuelenec

 

From my Little Blue Book  ©2024LisaLeQuelenec

From my Little Blue Book  ©2024LisaLeQuelenec

From my Little Blue Book  ©2024LisaLeQuelenec

From my Little Blue Book  ©2024LisaLeQuelenec

Inspiration from unusual places...

Rag rug watercolour thumbnail sketch  ©2024LisaLeQuelenec

 

Rag rug ©2024LisaLeQuelenec

It started on a sunny day, I noticed the denim rag rug and the way the light had faded areas - the patterns made by light and shade, the tones, the colours and textures... a little noticing.

Sketchbook studies - rag rug    watercolour   ©2024LisaLeQuelenec

I grabbed my sketchbook and sketched out some thumbnails.....which led to some collages.....

Collage WIP    ©2024LisaLeQuelenec

Rag rug studies   collage with shells   ©2024LisaLeQuelenec

That were strangely addictive to make.....  to be continued......

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.

Happy New Year!

 

Well December ran away with me in a rollercoaster of child illnesses, Christmas preparations and travelling. 

The ferry over was a little bumpy with a 'bit of a swell' and as we came around by Corbiere on the journey to Jersey. I took advantage of the slow progress the ferry was making. I whipped out my sketchbook and little pouch of pencils AKA my emergency sketch kit and tried to capture the wind whipped sea and the lighthouse.

La Corbiere Lighthouse - ferry view detail   pencil sketch A6 sketchbook   ©2023LisaLeQuelenec

The sketchbook is an A6 Stillman & Birn Nova with grey toned paper. The pencils are the tiny left over nubs that have been replaced for studio work, but as they are the most used colours and as they are only used for firing off quick notes and ideas they are adequate for short periods of use and my hands don't complain too much.

La Corbiere Lighthouse - ferry view and sketch kit   pencil sketch A6 sketchbook   ©2023LisaLeQuelenec

The weather continued to bluster and blow whilst we were there but beautiful beachy moments were there for capturing. Even better was the time spent with family making up for the Christmas's missed during lockdowns.

Toward Green Island - Jersey ©2022LisaLeQuelenec

 

Green Island - Jersey ©2022LisaLeQuelenec

Green Island - Jersey ©2022LisaLeQuelenec

And now.....back to work where I am sure lots of these inspiring views will be put to good use.

I hope everyone has enjoyed a break and is looking forward to a happy, healthy and successful (whatever that means to you) 2023. Best wishes.