Monoprint and mixed media skimming the breeze

Skimming the breeze   monoprint and mixed media 21x15

Another monoprint experiment to which I added a little coloured pencil. I cut a paper mask to make the gull shape - it has given me a lot of ideas to think about. I like the contrast in printmaking methods between the painterly looseness of monoprint and the more precise etchings and drypoints. I am filling notebooks at a rate of knots with ideas to further explore. If only there were more hours in the day...

Coastal calm in watercolour

Coastal calm   watercolour on paper 22x22cm   ©2016Lisa Le Quelenec

Sunrise   watercolour on paper 22x22cm   ©2016Lisa Le Quelenec

Two new watercolours available in my Etsy store. I'm looking forward to the spring /summer sun now. Enough of the rain and cold, bring us some warmth. I hope the sun is shining for you.

Experiments with Daniel Smith's Lunar Black watercolour

Lunar black mixes in my colour notebook   ©2016Lisa Le Quelenec

Lunar black sketchbook page ©2016Lisa Le Quelenec

 

Sketch I - lunar black ©2016Lisa Le Quelenec

Sketch II  - lunar black ©2016Lisa Le Quelenec

I treated myself to a new (to me) watercolour tube of paint on my last order ; Daniel Smith's Lunar Black. What a beauty! I am rather partial to colourful black watercolour as you know and have written about some experiments on the dark side before here and here. Whilst not what I would call a colourful black it does have the most beautiful granulating quality. These images show the first few sketches and tests that I have done using it. I'm still very much at the 'getting to know you' stage of the pigment, experiments so far show how difficult I found it to control the granulating properties but it is definitely a colour that I can see great potential in.......very, very, exciting. I think it will show it's true potential in large scale work and onsite sketching will be another place I use it as I make tonal studies. Time to play I think....

Sketch III lunar black mixes ©2016Lisa Le Quelenec

Isle of Wight and Old Harry Rocks - etchings

Two etchings in sepia showing views from one end of the bay to the other. The Isle of Wight in the east and Old Harry Rocks to the west were once joined together in the days before the Ice Age. The effect of weather and sea has shaped what we can see today in an endlessly, to me, fascinating way. I love the shapes that are left and how they stand like guardians protecting the sweep of coastline. (In a very literal way with the light house on the Isle of Wight Needles.)

Across the Bay   etching 6x6cm ©2016Lisa Le Quelenec

Summer's Eve   etching 6x6cm ©2016Lisa Le Quelenec

Both etchings are available in my Etsy shop here.

A wave in monoprint

Surf   monoprint and coloured pencil   21x15cm ©2016Lisa Le Quelenec

A little monoprint - just playing with ideas and using up leftover ink. I wonder where it will lead me....

Dreaming of summer sun

Summer sun   acrylic on paper 13x13cm   ©2016Lisa Le Quelenec

After the storms over the weekend a bright winter sun has made an appearance, I am grateful for the light. I find February the hardest month of the year - the last slog before spring and brighter, warmer days. I always dream of summer heat and walking barefoot on the sand. This little painting is the result of my wishful thinking....and a celebration for being nearly halfway through the month.

Three little watercolour feathers

Three Little Feathers   15x21cm approx each   watercolour on paper   ©2016Lisa Le Quelenec

More subtle and wintry greys - this time for feathers. My palette does seem to be greyed down at the moment again and I am enjoying it immensely. I love neutrals and especially colourful ones. This are mixes of Payne's grey, neutral tint, cobalt blue, yellow ochre and indigo. There is so much variation that can be achieved. These colours have been all in the skies of late but yesterday was glorious blue - cold and very windy - a good day for collecting treasures.

All three are available individually in my Etsy gallery Seasidestudiosuk

Another storm in watercolour

Horizon shine   watercolour on paper 18x18cm   ©2016Lisa Le Quelenec

This very wet and wild winter has been inspiration for some more stormy watercolours. I used Arches rough paper for this one a complete change to the hot press I usually use. I liked the way I could scrub the pigment into the pits of the paper staining it and then blot off the peaks of the texture. I was trying to capture all the beautiful colours in this particular storm and the way they all sparkled. The sky at the horizon was a very warm and dirty yellow which was exquisitely set off by the turquoise sliver of sea.

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

Sketchbook pages...

Inbetween printing and working on a commission I have been working away in my sketchbooks squirreling away ideas and inspiration for later projects. Sometimes pages are just recordings of little things that have caught my attention - like the daffodils flowering during the first week of January! I'm pretty sure that hasn't happened before but we have had a very mild winter so far. A walk on the beach at Southbourne was very fruitful for ideas. The light was very dramatic as heavy showers started to roll in and the energetic tides were throwing up all sorts of treasures like these mermaid purses (a much more romantic name than fish egg case) some were smooth as silk others furry like animal skin in colours ranging from black to pale olive. Anyway here are a couple of pages...

Mermaid Purses sketchbook page ©2016Lisa Le Quelenec

Daffodils for New Year!  sketchbook page ©2016Lisa Le Quelenec