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| 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.
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| Scintillating drypoint etching and plate ©2025LisaLeQuelenec |
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| 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)
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.
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| Sketchbook Snippet - Ran's Net watercolour and watersoluble pencils ©2024LisaLeQuelenec |
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| Sketchbook Snippet - Ran's Net watercolour and watersoluble pencils ©2024LisaLeQuelenec |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| Detail from a print worked into with mixed media ©2024LisaLeQuelenec |
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| Piddock shell fragments ©2024LisaLeQuelenec |
Broken but oh so beautiful fragments of piddock shells, inspiring textures and compositions.
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| Colour inspiration from beach finds ©2025LisaLeQuelenec |
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| Telephone doodles ©2022LisaLeQuelenec |
I've had reason to be waiting on hold with telephone music to keep me company lately. Totally mind numbing. However with my mind numbed and without thinking my hand set to work doodling, it had quite a bit of time fortunately/unfortunately. Once said call had ended and my brain slowly worked its way out of the fog I looked at what my hand had done. I'm not sure if it is something or nothing but thought I would spend a little bit of time exploring the drawings, redrawing, pondering - I like the flow and movement of the lines and the variations of weight and depth.
The lines are making me think of Wilhelmina Barns-Graham's drawings and some Victor Pasmore paintings. What do you think?
Linoprinting has always been a challenge and was something I actively avoided in my college days (many, many years ago). However these line doodles feel like they might work best in this medium so I am having myself an experiment. Now lino has come along since I last had a go and there are much easier materials to carve these days. No more the tough as nails brown, heavy stuff that I used to lay over a hot water bottle in the vain attempt to help soften it, no now there is this marvellous blue Japanese vinyl. With a reasonably sharp tool it cuts like butter, which is a good job as my hands would definitely not be up to carving the old style lino.
So after refining one of my Phone doodles I traced the drawing onto the vinyl and carved away. Time was not on my side so instead of getting out the printing ink and because I was far to impatient to wait for another day I tried out an ink stamp pad to try making a quick proof print from.
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| Playing with lino ©2022LisaLeQuelenec |
There is quite a bit of 'noise' - bits of lino that I haven't quite carved enough away and have printed where they shouldn't. I'm not sure whether to leave some or not as I think it will help the image not look quite so graphic and maybe a bit more like water. Also in my impatient proofing I did crumple the paper which left a couple of creases oops! I will ponder some more before getting the printing ink out another day and playing with different combinations of inking. It feels rather exciting to be trying something completely different again and I am wondering how this will feed into my other work it normally does at some stage without me realising it at the time.
