Abstracted Wave I - IV & Wave Water Sand Spray I & II mixed media on canvas boards

 

So I have been a little bit busy....

Abstracted Wave I - IV   mixed media on canvas boards 15x15cm   ©2024LisaLeQuelenec

Abstracted Wave I   mixed media on canvas board 15x15cm   ©2024LisaLeQuelenec

A new mini series of pieces using acrylic and collaged textures, mostly from fabric and textured papers. My love of line expressed through the loose threads and frayed edges which I think works well with the movement in the water that I am trying to suggest.

Abstracted Wave II   mixed media on canvas board 15x15cm   ©2024LisaLeQuelenec

The rough edges feel important to me to the pieces and so I have left a margin of the white canvas board showing which frame the image. It has been suggested to me that it acts like a kind of frame and given their size they would suit standing propped on a shelf as well as framed. What do you think?

Abstracted Wave III   mixed media on canvas board 15x15cm   ©2024LisaLeQuelenec

All four pieces are available in my Folksy Store.

Abstracted Wave IV   mixed media on canvas board 15x15cm   ©2024LisaLeQuelenec

Wave water sand spray I & II   mixed media on canvas boards 20x20cm  ©2024LisaLeQuelenec

Slightly larger at 20x20cm here are two more in the series. Both pieces are available in my Folksy Store.

Wave water sand spray I   mixed media on canvas boards 20x20cm  ©2024LisaLeQuelenec 

Wave water sand spray II   mixed media on canvas boards 20x20cm  ©2024LisaLeQuelenec 

Wave Water Sand & Spray series   mixed media on canvas board   ©2024LisaLeQuelenec

Abstracted Wave I   mixed media on canvas board 15x15cm   ©2024LisaLeQuelenec

Below some of the inspiration.

Southbourne Splashes ©2024LisaLeQuelenec

Collections of pebbles and hag stones in monoprint

 

Collection I   collagraph monoprint   29x19cm   ©2022LisaLeQuelenec

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?

Collection II   collagraph monoprint   29x19cm   ©2022LisaLeQuelenec

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.

Needles - Isle of Wight   23x20cm   ghost print and mixed media   ©2022LisaLeQuelenec

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.

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.

Ebb and flow - collagraph and mixed media

Ebb & Flow   28x18cm collagraph collage and mixed media   ©2018LisaLeQuelenec

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.....).

Ebb & Flow II   28x18cm collagraph collage and mixed media   ©2018LisaLeQuelenec

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.

Well Travelled   17x17cm watercolour   ©2018LisaLeQuelenec

Well Travelled II   17x17cm watercolour   ©2018LisaLeQuelenec

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.

Well Travelled II (detail)   17x17cm watercolour   ©2018LisaLeQuelenec

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

Winter

Winter - A/P    blind embossed collagraph 12x20cm   ©2018LisaLeQuelenec  

Winter continues with it's dark, cold and damp here on the south coast. It may not be the best light for painting but work continues with printmaking, sketching and planning for this lovely fresh new year.

In December I had made a collagraph plate of a lone winter tree the first print of which I used for my Christmas card. Well I have made a further three prints from this plate and one blind print (a print with no ink that just shows as an embossed image). It is a technique which I rather like especially mounted and framed completely white on white - very crisp and pure.

All three are available at Seaside Studios Uk on Etsy.

  Winter - 1/3          collagraph print        12x20cm   ©2018LisaLeQuelenec

   

A digitally manipulated version of this image is available as reproduction prints and cards on my RedBubble site

Winter tree moon II  reproduction print   ©2018LisaLeQuelenec

Gulls 1

Gulls have featured in my work for a number of years now. I discovered a poem by Neruda a while back and some of the imagery in the piece has stayed with me. It has sparked ideas to explore which are turning into a series of works in a variety of media.

I feel like a gull circling in the sky getting closer but not quite hitting the mark just yet. I have started with some monoprints with Neruda's words in my mind. Using an inked plate and removing ink, applying masks and also making marks in the ink before running through the press.

Flying Free   monoprint and mixed media   ©2017LisaLeQuelenec

Some I made ghost prints with (running the plate with ink depleted from the first pass through the press for a second time). I likes the subtleties of a couple and so have left those untouched. Other ghost prints weren't strong enough to stand on their own so I have worked into those with other media. Others have been photocopied, scanned and digitally manipulated and exist only as digital prints. We are fortunate to live in an age where so many opportunities and methods of experimentation are open to us and I like to exploit as many as I can on occasion.I'm not sure where I am going with these still.....I'll see where the breeze takes me.

Gulls   ghost monoprint and mixed media   ©2017Lisa Le Quelenec

A translation of the poem that inspired this work can be read here

monoprinting birch trees

Night Watchmen  monoprint 15x21cm  ©2017LisaLeQuelenec

The first monoprint of the year! I have been really enjoying markmaking with monoprint recently experimenting with a combination of applying ink and different tools to take the ink off and draw into it. Birch trees are a favourite winter subject and feel a good fit for these first pieces.

Initially I rolled a layer of ink mixed with extender for a little transparency onto the plate before wiping off some trunk shapes. Then applying ink with a stiff brush I added the trunk markings in. The rough grassy floor was fun! I added a little more ink and scratched into it with sharpened sticks, a supersharp pencil point and toothpicks.

I wanted a really sharp and bright white moon so cut a paper stencil for this. The thickness of the paper has meant a darker edge to the ink surrounding the moon but I quite like this as it adds to the contrast and I think it needed something hard amongst all the lost and found edges through the rest of the image.

This image is available as a reproduction and stationery on my Redbubble site

It is also available here on Fine Art America.

I managed a ghost print (running the plate with leftover ink again through the press with some slightly damper paper) only adding a little extra ink to the trunk markings and lower corner of grass.  Once the print had dried I worked into it with watercolour and coloured pencil introducing some colour and neutralising some of the harder darks adding more form into the trunks. I liked the way the pencil picked up the texture of the inks where it had printed thicker in some areas. I think this is an avenue well worth exploring - a big adventure for the start of the year - the results could be very exciting...

Night Watchmen   monoprint and mixed media 15x21cm ©2017LisaLeQuelenec

Night Watchmen detail   ©2017LisaLeQuelenec

Flowing to the sea II - collagraph and mixed media

Flowing to the sea II   29x29cm collagraph and mixed media   ©2016LisaLeQuelenec

A change of palette and a change of mood. I can't fail to be inspired by the autumn colours that are starting to appear. I love the golden light of autumn as it burnishes the landscape.

Flowing to the sea..

Flowing to the sea   29x29cm collagraph and mixed media   ©2016LisaLeQuelenec

This is one of my favourite views of Autumn, looking from the back of Hengistbury head to wards Christchurch across the reedbeds. I love all the contrasting textures of the land and the sound of the wind in the reedbeds. It always feels so peaceful to me.

collagraph plate  ©2016LisaLeQuelenec

I made a collograph plate on a mountboard base using different textured papers and painting glue on in the highlighted areas. Some areas I cut into the mountboard and peeled back the layers to reveal the texture of the inside of the board. It was then sealed with shellack.

Inking up the plate was a joy. Rubbing different colours into the pits of texture and giving a wipe of different colour to the high points to give variagated colour and really show off the textures to full advantage - never quite sure what the final result will be.

After running the plate through the press with dampened paper and leaving the print to dry I decided to work back into the image with coloured pencils, pastels and acrylic paint. The embossment made by the plate on the paper when it passed through the press was beautiful to work on. Small scumbles of pure colour to visually mix in give a rich surface quality - there is quite a bit of pure yellow and orange contained within the reed areas but they are such small dashes they don't jar the eye and would be missed if absent.

I have two more prints that I would like to work back into in this way. The next one I would like to use a more traditional Autumn palette of ochres and siennas for a different mood. It's an enjoyable way of working with many possibilities to explore.

I have made this image available as a reproduction print on Fine Art America and here at  Red Bubble.

Inside/Outside - a study

Inside/Outside a study
mixed media 36x56cm
©2012 Lisa Le Quelenec

The theme for critique for this months art group was 'Inside/Outside'. I love the shapes of broken shells and the contrast in textures between the rougher ridged outer and the silky smooth inner of this whelk is beautiful. I thought I would expand on the recent coloured pencil study that I have done. I've misplaced the original shell and so used a different one that I picked up on St. Aubins beach in Jersey on Boxing Day. I came back with a small bag of treasure from that walk - lots of possible starting points for new paintings....

It started as a pencil line drawing on a slightly textured handmade paper that I've glued down onto mount board. It took on a life of it's own.... with acrylic, ink and coloured pencil. In between layers there are even small scratchy marks of silver ink that follow the ridges of the outer surface of the shell. These marks are partially covered over but here and there they poke through and catch the light. There are many layers of each of the materials and the surface has a weathered looking patina that draws parallels with the sea beaten surface of the shell.

detail

detail

Past the reeds



Past the Reeds
acrylic on paper 12x12cm
©2011 Lisa Le Quelenec



Pondering and painting

 I've been doing a lot of thinking about the workshop... I have lots of questions that I'm trying to answer. They include;

  

   How can I make sure that whilst I'm using Jane's techniques I don't become a 'poor imitation'?

The techniques are very different to the way in which I have been working lately and their 'newness' makes them very exciting. However I need (and want) to paint with my own voice and not make poor imitations of someone else's work. I hope that doesn't come across as arrogant as it sounds I'm struggling with the words. I think what I'm trying to say is that I don't want to paint a subject and be thinking 'how would she do that?'.  

   What can I take from the techniques that will inform my work and help me to grow?

This is an easier question to answer, mark making and surface quality. I have been feeling for a while that I have been getting stuck in a rut by relying on colour blends and glazing on smooth textures. It's a habit that I need to break. The workshop has thrown up ideas for experiments, what's not so easy is the next question...

   How can I adapt the techniques and materials to use what I already have without getting more?

...hmmmm..... I have a range of pastels but if I was to embrace this technique I would need to have a lot more, not to mention the medium. I'm hoping that by using what I have creatively I can adapt. I already have a selection of texture pastes and mediums which I'm sure with a little tweaking I can use. The proof will be in the pudding.

 With this is mind I started to work. Using very thick, half dry acrylic I started to make marks on the paper to indicate water and an area of reeds. With a sharp stick I drew into the paint almost carving into it. I wanted to get texture somewhat in the manner of the acrylic medium that I'd used in the workshop. I used a 300lb watercolour paper that would be able to stand up to all the gouging in texture. The photo is a little fuzzy and was taken at an angle to try and show the peaks and troughs of the paint.

 

Once that was dry I painted in the darkest tones using a burnt umber and indanthrene mix following the raised areas and lightened the thinnest areas in the water. Dry brushing over the reed areas where the indentations were thinnest meant the paint only rested on the proud areas of the paper leaving the indentations light. 

Now for some colour... using more dry brushing than anything else letting the brush whisper against the texture in much the same way as pastel would brush against the pastel ground medium.

Building up colour and tones slowly and adding in details this is where I have got to. Next I will work more on the reflections and light in the water. I think I need to bring back some of the warmth and colour.

Workshop fun with Jane Puckering

Phew! What a day...the workshop that I went to run by Jane Puckering was sooooo good, one of the best ones I've ever been to. Her enthusiasm and energy were infectious, making you feel like anything is possible. Using acrylic with pastel is a whole new ball game to me and I was intrigued to find out more about the technique. 

 Jane began painting a very wet and very loose under painting in really fluid acrylic, there were lots of beautiful runs and dribbles in the paint. Once this was dry she showed us a medium called 'acrylic ground for pastels' which is made by a company called Golden. She uses it diluted 40% with water and paints it on top of the acrylic under painting in broad directional strokes. You can also use this medium on top of a watercolour under painting as it dries clear without disturbing it and then pastel on top.

All fired up we made our own under paintings, some people using acrylic and some working with watercolour.  I was working on a pre-primed piece of MDF and I really enjoyed this bit, lots of flinging paint and letting the liquid do the work.

I'd decided to stay with the same palette that I've been working with lately of indanthrene blue, quinacridone burnt orange, golden yellow and azure blue. I was working from my sketches of Kimmeridge and wanted to really explore the marks that I could make. In the under painting you can see where I've dribbled water through the wet paint, diluting areas and letting it run.

Whilst our under paintings were drying Jane then showed us how pastel could be applied on top. She showed us how you could use the marks in the under painting to draw out areas and cover over any passages that weren't conducive to the final painting.
At the end of stage 2 with pastel applied but lots of under painting showing through I really should have stopped. However I carried on adding in the suggestion of the headland and completely overworking the rest. Jane explained that one of the beauties of this techniques is that as the medium used is acrylic based I can just wash off any offending parts (for me in this case the flat bed of rock) to take it back to the under painting and then I can just start again. I'm going to live with the mistakes for a few days and analyse how I will take my second shot.

There was still some time to go of the workshop so I thought I'd have another go on a second composition. This time the MDF wasn't primed and I went straight in with the acrylic under painting letting alot of the buff of the board show through. Once it was dry I added the medium and began the pastel stage. I was halfway through when the call went out that we'd be finishing in twenty minutes for a critique to finish the afternoon. Yikes! I had to get my skates on..

I was much happier with this piece as there are still passages of the under painting showing through and the marks are more dominant. I'm thinking that I need to work against the clock more often - no time to fiddle. Looking at it on screen I can see I need to crop about a 6th from the sky for a better composition and maybe darken the lower 6th.

Yesterday was such a great day, it's always so good to learn new techniques and it's certainly given me a lot to ponder. I'm sure I will play with the technique again but more importantly, for me, it's shown me a way of loosening up and exploring the painted mark. Jane regularly runs workshops in Sway, there's a list on her website, so if you feel like treating yourself I'd thoroughly recommend taking one.

More poppy experiments...

Another poppy experiment using acrylic ink, watercolour and coloured pencils. The original petal shapes were made by printing acrylic ink onto watercolour paper, the result was beautiful texture in the pull of the ink. Once it was dry I added a wash of watercolour and drew in the seed heads with a brush. The dark marks on the under side of the petals were made with acrylic ink once everything had dried.




Glow
20x28cm mixed media on paper
©2010 Lisa Le Quelenec



To bring out more red in the petals I used coloured pencil slowly building it up with varied shades to get a richness of tone. I don't think you can see in the photo but in the dark blotches in the petals there is purple, royal blue and turquoise which zing against the orange and red.



I've promised myself another couple of weeks for experimenting whilst the year draws to a close on exhibition work but I think I can foresee a series of poppy paintings in the not too distant future. ;) I'm really enjoying mixing up media and the looseness and freedom that it involves.

More reflecting on the river....

Reeds and reflections from my sketchbook in both watercolour (top) and acrylic (below). The acrylic is quite richly textured which was difficult to capture in a photo.The more I experiment the more I think I could possibly be leaning to a more mixed media approach. (of course this might just be because I'm enjoying playing with different materials so much - does it count as work when it's so much fun?)

The blue flashes were a tribute to the beautiful kingfisher that I saw last month but haven't seen since. He/she brought to mind the title of a poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins 'As kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies draw flame'. Not because of the meaning of the poem, just the mental images that it gives me. (although I do enjoy the rhythms of his work) Turquoise, copper, rusty browns are one of my favourite colour combinations.

The sun has been shining today and the temp is above freezing - yay!

On a roll....

Another for the series and I'm on a roll..... (which is good as the exhibition starts in 11 days! Yikes! Lots of mount cutting, framing and labelling to be done.)

Shifting Sands

17x17cm acrylic on paper

© Lisa Le Quelenec 2010

I used gritty texture paste in the sand ripples for this one. The highlights catch nicely on the rough texture in just the same way that light catches on the sand.