Lisa Le Quelenec Seaside studios paintings, prints and mixed media: stones

Showing posts with label stones. Show all posts

Thursday, 8 February 2024

Lokta - media experiments on new to me paper and gathering resources

Top right - experiments with different media on handmade Lokta paper
Top left - initial ideas for a range of colours for the project
Bottom - experiments with lino ink and carved stamps
©2024LisaLeQuelenec

Gathering thoughts and experiments to continue with the pebble project.....

I bought some Lokta paper, it is A4 and a beautiful creamy colour, some with speckles. It is thin, strong and fibrous and one side is slightly smoother than the other. I did the same experiments on both surfaces but the difference in results was negligible. Wetting the paper and tearing gives a lovely 'fluffy' edge (like most thin handmade papers) and it cuts well with knife and scissors - these are characteristics that I want to utilise in the coming works.

My next experiments were using lino printing ink in both bold colours, neutrals and off whites.

The results are subtle, I had to photograph these with a dark paper behind to show the contrast as the camera struggles to pick up the pale tones. I rather like the effect though and will definitely be exploring very pale compositions at some point - maybe more as drawings....

Exploring shape, line and rhythm. There is something very calming about drawing flowing lines. I'm making connections in my mind with Japanese gravel gardens, Wilhelmina Barns-Graham drawings and ripples on still water. I feel like I am edging towards something...maybe I am flowing too?

Aren't these ripples divine? The tide was fast and strong to leave these behind, they are quite large and deep.

The shot below was taken through the lens of my sunglasses - I like the dramatic tonal contrast.

All these sources will no doubt filter into this next body of work, I'm enjoying the process of collating and curating.

Wednesday, 31 January 2024

Revisiting some older work - ebb & flow

I have been looking back at some older work (around 2018 although it feels like much longer ago). Inspired by the pebbles and small rivulets of water that amble down to the sea. I'm gathering ideas, looking at references old and new. I need a project to get me through February a month that I always find difficult for it's cold snaps and dreary greyness. With the mist and darkness it feels like it has come early today.

Ebb & Flow I&II are both available at RedBubble framed and unframed as reproduction prints in various options.

If you have been reading here a while (I thank you) you might remember this little concertina book that I made. I stumbled across it a few weeks ago whilst looking for something else in the plan chest. I like the simplicity of this series of work and want to revisit the themes in some way. I think I would like a warmer palette this time.....

Thursday, 11 August 2022

Collections of pebbles and hag stones in monoprint

I have been experimenting and exploring again this time the shapes and textures in pebbles gathered locally. They are a geological history of this part of the coast whose history fascinates me. I often wonder at how different it must have looked with the Isle of Wight's Needles still joined to Old Harry Rocks and where was it exactly that the sea breached and eroded to form the two iconic landmarks that gives us the beach we enjoy today. Was it where Poole harbour is? Being the second largest natural harbour in the world could make it a possibility...or did that come later as the water found the lowest point to pool in and wash away the softer land? These are things that I ponder as I walk along the beach picking up pebbles and looking through the hag stones that have been pushed around by the tide. How much of this history has this pebble seen? Or this one?

My experiments have taken the form of collagraph making individual plates of each stone, choosing textures to describe each pebble individually and then intuitively placing them to print in different combinations. It has the element of chance and surprise for me that echoes the way that I gather the pebbles they have been inspired by. The process is long as each pebble plate is inked separately again echoing the process that formed the rock.

Hagstones ©LisaLeQuelenec

Colours are taken directly from the source material but are also reflected back at me on my walks as the lack of rain and very hot, dry weather are parching the land. I haven't known the river to be so low, even at high tide it doesn't look the same. We have warnings along the coast to be mindful that the heat may produce cliff falls - the process continues to shape the land just as it did to shape the pebbles in my hand.

Tradition says that the fairy folk can be seen through a hag stone but I have only spied a 'polar bear' ;o) Have you seen the Wight bear?

All of the above prints are available in my Folksy Store.

Thursday, 17 May 2018

Time and Tide - a mini art book

I continue to think about the effects of time and errosion and the part they have played in shaping the coast where I live. How the pebbles that I pick up along the shore were once part of the land and how much the coastline has changed over thousands of years and how it could change in years to come. Old Harry Rocks was once joined to The Needles on the Isle of Wight....Harry has already lost his 'wife' a chalk stack that fell into the sea circa 1896 and at some point Old Harry will probably join her though I shouldn't think that will be in my lifetime especially as UNESCO has teams working to try and protect him. I wonder just how they can stop the tide... or even if they should? What treasures lie waiting for the tide to reveal?

I started to play with ideas on small pieces of card only 8x14cm using collage and drawing. I ended up with quite a collection and wanted a way to order and present them. Whittling it down to just five I have mounted them into a concertina book that I have made. A book as a finished piece is not a format that I have worked in before but it feels 'right' for this mini project. In my mind I am not thinking of it as a book as such but maybe more of a small chapter in a much longer narrative that I will never see completed.

On the final page is a small explanation about the inspiration behind the work which you can read below.

Like many coastal areas Dorset has a wealth of tales of myth and legend, some of which centre around Old Harry Rocks. These are chalk stacks formed by coastal erosion that lie at the gateway to the Jurassic Coast – a World Heritage site. The erosion that formed the chalk stacks also threatens their destruction and teams from UNESCO are working to save them.

One legend states that the rocks are named after a man called Harry Paye (d. 1419) a privateer and smuggler from Poole who intercepted hundreds of French and Spanish ships bringing his spoils back to the busy port of Poole.

Another naturally occurring phenomenon are hag stones which are pebbles with holes also made by erosion. Folklore states that they provide protection from witchcraft, disease and by looking through the hole you can see the fairy folk. Dorset fishermen used to tie them onto their boats for luck. I wonder if Harry Paye and his crew kept a hag stone or two on their ship…

Thursday, 10 May 2018

Well weathered - a series in mixed media and collage

I can get up to all sorts of mischief whilst waiting for ink to dry ;o) I have been working into some drypoint and etching prints with pencils, paint and collage - looking at them afresh and thinking about time and errosion.

The original six are available here.

They are also available as prints, cards and notebooks on RedBubble here.

Well Weathered VI by LisaLeQuelenec as prints, cards and notebooks on RedBubble

Thursday, 3 May 2018

Three Pebbles - proofing an etching plate and an experiment.

Two little pebble etching proof prints - trying out ideas for inking - both available on Folksy.

....then a little experiment mixing printing techniques and adding drawing. The darker pebble shapes are the individual collagraph plates from a few posts back over-printed onto the etching. Another avenue of possibilities to explore.

Thursday, 26 April 2018

Transformation collage and monoprint

Following on from Ebb and Flow I and II a couple more compositions using monoprint this time. I like the different kind of marks with direct monoprint and the feathery line quality because I did those sections on a textured watercolour paper it is more pronounced than it would have been on a smoother surface giving a softer feel that contrasts with the harder lines of the pebble shapes.

I will start to add these to the Etsy shop over the next few days and make some from the series available as prints and cards on RedBubble.

The pebble project is progressing well and there is much work in progress. However waiting for layers of ink to dry is getting a little frustrating. It means that posts may end up being a bit like buses with lots to share in one go with big gaps in between :o)

Thursday, 22 March 2018

Ebb and flow - collagraph and mixed media

Following on from the Elemental triptych a couple more mixed media pieces. They have proved very difficult to photograph I'm not sure if it is a problem with my camera or just that it can't cope with the subtleties of texture and tone in the printed elements.

Edges, line, boundaries, balance and texture seem to be my focus at the moment. I think I need to spend some time drawing - thinking with a pencil (or whatever else comes to hand.....).

Thursday, 15 March 2018

Elemental I, II and III - block print and collage

A combination of techniques and materials has been used to create this triptch. First three blocks printed using a blended pass of blue ink. Once these had dried I collaged the pebble shapes using a mixture of inked paper and shapes from previous collagraph prints. Also areas of tracing and tissue paper are collaged in I like the mix of opacity and transparency.

I have tried to show in the detail photograph some of the lovely texture from the ink in the block print. The variation in tone and lovely granulatory qualities bring to mind looking at sand rich in mica through water.

This series seems to be heading in a more graphic and hard edged direction in print compared with the path the paintings are taking. I continue to explore but am intrigued if the two will ever meet and merge at some point in the future.

Thursday, 1 March 2018

Well travelled pebbles in watercolour

I had hoped to be able to share the next round of collagraph prints but I am in between stages waiting for ink to dry still. Unable to continue with them I have returned to watercolour and whilst the medium dictates a completely different result from the prints the theme is the same.

Replicating some of the marks and textures that I had made in the prints with watercolour and a little gouache has made some interesting areas. I also used more granulating pigments in the mixes especially the new love of my life Daniel Smith's Sodolite Genuine. I can see I will be getting through the tube rather quickly.

Not a bad way to spend time waiting for ink to dry.......

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