A challenging watercolour tangent

I had planned to post about some preliminary work that I've been doing the past few days for my next big painting but whilst doing some experimenting I got distracted and wandered off on a tangent. The following watercolours are the result.....

Gathering clouds
watercolour 11x15cm
©2011 Lisa Le Quelenec

Silver night
watercolour 21x21cm
©2011 Lisa Le Quelenec

I used lamp black, indigo and ultramarine violet with gouache in the clouds. The paper is khadi a beautiful paper handmade in India. I really like the deckle edges and the textured weave of the surface which encourages the pigments to granulate. Exploiting the texture and using an almost dry brush, holding it horizontal to the paper surface I could get the sparkles of the water in the painting on the left.

I enjoyed the tangent but ohhhh watercolours are HARD!  I'd completely forgotten just how much lighter the washes dry when trying to get a good dark. I used sooo much pigment and then wondered why I just hadn't stuck to acrylic.... makes me appreciate once again just how talented watercolourists are.

This link takes you to one of my favourite ever watercolour books, I totally agree with the first reviewer of the book when they say of other watercolourists that, '....it may make them weep and grind their teeth at their own inadequacy.' For me Sargent is a master watercolourist being able to say so much in such beautiful expressive strokes. I visited the 'Sargent and the Sea' exhibition at the Royal Academy last year and one of the highlights for me was to be able to get so close to some watercolours he'd done in Venice. They took my breath away, the light and colour were just unbelievable. Can you tell he's one of my heroes?

And the winner is.......

Ducky the paperclip and independent adjudicator carefully guarding the entries to the draw earlier in the day. He may look cute but he's a highly trained ninja in the deadly art of finger entrapment and was taking his duties very seriously.

At the allotted time Ducky released the entries into the hat and His Nibbs rooted around and pulled out the winning entry.





........ drum roll perrrleeeeeassseeeee.....

And the winner is.....

Congratulations Sherrie of Brush and Baren, if you would like to email me the address that you would like the painting sent to I shall pop it in the post and it will be winging it's way to you just as fast as it can.

Thank you to everyone who put their names forward and for all your good wishes I truly have been touched at your kindness and generosity. Unfortunately there can only be one winner but until the end of September 2011 I have added a special code to my Etsy Gallery if you were interested in purchasing any of the items in the gallery type in the code BLOGFRIENDS1 at the checkout to get a 20% discount off the item (the discount excludes shipping).

So, whilst raising my coffee mug in a toast, here's to another year. May yours be successful, creative and fun.

Colour recipe pages and a recommendation

This post is inspired by Maggie Latham and her fantastic series of posts on colour. (The link to the first post is here but do make sure to read the other posts in what an interesting, well researched and very well presented series. I can't recommend them enough, she is so generous with her knowledge.) 

I love colour mixing charts, or as I think of them, recipe pages. If there is left over paint on the palette or sometimes just for the joy of it I'll start playing with mixing the colours. I don't think time spent doing this can ever be wasted and sometimes out of this kind of play unusual and unexpected combinations can be discovered.

The first two images are preparation for a 'Mixing Greens in Watercolour' class that I held a few years ago. Although using colours that I had used lots of times before I remember getting very excited about forgotten combinations.

On the left is a page from my acrylic recipe book. I was thinking about stormy grey colours, looking at different tones and how different glazes would adjust the base colour. I find it fascinating that mixing colours by glazing in acrylic or oils gives such different results from mixing the same colours on the palette. I don't think the photo does justice to the nuances of colour in these different mixes but if you've the time and inclination to have a play with these colours I think you would be surprised by the subtle differences.


There are now only three days left to post a comment here to be entered in my blogoversary painting giveaway - don't be shy.... :o)

Summer stroll

On the left is a grey scale of where I had got to at the end of the demonstration at the Red House Museum. I felt that the contrast was little too harsh for my intended feeling of  a warm and mellow summer's evening. The sky was just too bright and needed to be a softer glow.

Taking a photo and converting it into grey scale can be really useful for looking at a painting with 'fresh eyes'. Reversing it, inverting colours, just the change of scale onto a computer screen can all help. Sometimes it's just fun to play with stretching and cropping which can suggest further avenues for exploration in a series.

 After many more layers of scumbling and glazing the light has been softened. The dark shadow under the breaking wave isn't as hard and it feels much closer to the mood that I was trying to capture. Using colours that I really wouldn't normally use has taken me outside my comfort zone and has been very interesting. It's something I will definitely do more of. 

Summer Stroll
acrylic on board 44x47.5cm
©2011 Lisa Le Quelenec

Sketchbook studies

©2011 Lisa Le Quelenec

A bright and sunny day at the beach spent watching the sparkles on the water and formulating ideas for a large painting. These sketches are approximately 27x8cm using just a sepia and indanthrene blue mix. 

A day at the Red House Museum

Today I did a silly thing..... I was demonstrating along with a group of other artists and crafts people at an event at the Red House Museum in Christchurch and I forgot to take my camera! There were all sorts of things like wood carving, pottery and lace making going on. It was a really enjoyable day but I have no photos to share of the things being demonstrated :o(

Yesterday the Bournemouth area was hit with a storm and flash floods which caused rather a lot of damage and as I was standing on a chair catching the water coming through my workroom ceiling I thought today's event would be cancelled. However it's been a beautiful summers day and you wouldn't have guessed how waterlogged the day before had been.

The one thing I can show you is a picture of the painting I was working on today. I've used some really unusual (for me ) colours in this piece, I think I'm getting braver. As well as the usual naples yellow and indanthrene blue there is quinacridone burnt orange (yum), quinacridone deep purple and permanent rose (yikes!) all of which are strong colours but with lots of glaze medium added and scumbled together across the slightly toothy surface of the board I think have worked quite well. I would say that this painting is at about the halfway mark. There is more scumbling and glazing to do and a lot of work on the water but I'm happy that it's heading in the right direction. My aim is for a soft but excitingly coloured glow.




Untitled W.I.P
acrylic on board 44x47.5cm

Blogoversary - yay! :o)

It’s my blogoversary! Here I am a whole year later and wondering just where the time has gone! Never in a million years would I have thought that one year later this would be my 194^th post and that 30 people would have signed up to ‘follow’ or that this blog would have had an incredible 13481 page views. It boggles my brain.

Over the last year I’ve met some incredibly talented artists in the blogosphere, made some great cyber buddies, found a new sketching friend and have felt so welcomed into the community that I wish I’d taken the plunge earlier. (I admit I lurked – some might call it stalked -  for about a year looking at other peoples blogs before setting up this one.)

I would just like to say a big thank you to all the people who have taken time out from their busy days to read, comment and email. I really appreciate all comments, they always brighten my day. Also thank you to the people whose blogs I read, I really enjoy popping over to your studios (normally with coffee in hand) to catch up with what you have been doing in your part of the world.

For this reason and to celebrate a whole year passing I thought I’d have a giveaway of the painting below. 'Storm at Southbourne' is an acrylic painting on heavyweight watercolour paper and will arrive mounted in a cardboard surround with backing, in a cellophane sleeve ready to frame. The mounts exterior size is 8x8inch which is a standard frame size.

Storm at Southbourne
acrylic on paper 13x12cm
©2011 Lisa Le Quelenec

To be in with a chance of winning just leave a comment at the end of this post (if the lovely people who have, previous to this post, subscribed as followers want to join in I will add their names twice to double their chances of winning).

All names will be written on pieces of paper and popped into a hat, ‘His Nibbs’ will pick a name on Wednesday August 31^st at 9.30pm (UK time). The winner will be announced the following day. I will then contact you to find out the address the painting is to be posted to and will happily send it 2nd class post within the UK or standard airmail anywhere in the world at my cost. Should the painting get lost or damaged in transit I cannot be held responsible - I will get proof of postage. (I know the last bit sounds a little official, whilst I do not expect any problems of this sort I just wanted to cover myself for circumstances outside of my control.)

***Please note the copyright of this painting remains my property and does not transfer to the winner***

Distant haze

Distant Haze
acrylic on board 20x20cm
©2011 Lisa Le Quelenec

Here come the girls...

sketchbook page ©2011 Lisa Le Quelenec

I pitied this cockerel when I saw the attitude in the stance of these hens. Now I understand the phrase hen pecked...

Across the fields

Across the Fields
acrylic on board 17x17cm
©2011 Lisa Le Quelenec

The roots of this painting lay more in memories than one actual point in time. A view across the fields toward the ruin of Corfe Castle, the village of Corfe nestles in a dip below. A warm, hazy summer evening was the order of the day yesterday, which brought these memories to mind.