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

First daffodil sketch of the season

I keep a sketchbook that I add to every year just for daffodil studies. I started because I had an aversion to painting yellow - I used to either get muddy non yellows or they looked so 'out of the tube' unnatural. Daffodils are a favourite flower of mine and I look forward to seeing the first blooms appear at the end of winter/beginning of spring. I see them as a promise of the warmer months to come and they brighten the darker greyer days.

 These two sketches are where I left off last year in my daffodil sketchbook. More can be seen in my flickr album here .

Below is the first sketch of them for 2012, I am aiming to do some acrylic paintings this year.

First daffodil sketch of the season.
A4 acrylic on paper

Warm breeze on a winters day - WIP part 3

Warm Breeze on a Winter's Day
50x50cm acrylic on canvas
©2012 Lisa Le Quelenec

There might be a bit more tweaking to do but I think this painting is now finished. As I type this post the sun is starting to set and the beginnings of an apricot orange sky are starting to show. We have been blessed in Dorset recently with beautiful clear skies and warm golden light toward the end of the day. Friday afternoon at the beach was particularly good, surprisingly warm in the sun and clear sea.

I've warmed up the painting with layers of Liquitex vivid red orange in a scumbled glaze which I also added to the to the water at the shoreline. The sand looks like a very solid block of colour in the photo but the reality is lighter and more varied in colour. The violet/grey neutral of the clouds has been scumble glazed with the orange and the two colours vibrate off each other and glow.

The aim of this painting was to give a warm, positive and uplifting feeling. Have I achieved this? What do you think?



* I think I remember where I had read the Van Gogh quote now, 'Colour - A workshop for artists and designers' by David Hornung... interesting book.

A warm breeze on a winter's day - WIP part 2

Stage 2 - blocking in the cloud
shapes and building up the tones

It's all been happening here... glazing, brushing on and wiping off, dry brush/scumbling. There is lots of broken colour, minute touches here and there of pure colour but for the most part subtle mixes which some might call mud. I can't remember for the life of me where I picked this quote up from, it may be from someone elses' blog or it may be one of the books I've been dipping in and out of but I wrote it down and it's been repeating in my head the last few days;



                            'And how important it is to know how to mix on the palette those colours

                             which have no name and yet are the real foundation of everything.'   
                            
                                                                                                                                          -Van Gogh



Stage 3 - building up the sea

It's the muddy neutrals that make the pure colour sing and I confess they can be the most interesting colours to mix for me.... mud with a hint of...


So here I am at stage 3 needing some more work in the sky, some tightening up in the cloud shapes and colours and working up the waters edge. This piece is on a 50x50cm canvas and I'm enjoying this larger format. Larger scale paintings are what I hope to focus on this year. I've a metre square canvas taunting me and lots of ideas of what to do with it... decisions..decisions...

A warm breeze on a winter's day - WIP part1

After the horrible start to the year that my family have had I've decided to start again.... So Happy New Year everyone! Thank you all for your kind wishes for my Dad, you cheered us up no end.

Today has been a much better beginning. A new painting started, with what I hope to be an uplifting feel of peaceful, warm light.

One of my aims with this painting is to widen my palette choice. I'm trying out some new mixes using indanthrene with naphthol crimson, touches of vivid red orange and cadmium lemon as well as my usual azure blue and buff titanium. These hot colours feel a bit brave but a welcome feature on the palette whilst it's so grey outside.

Not a good start..

It hasn't been the best start to the year. His Nibbs and I spent Christmas in Jersey, staying with my parents and my sister who was home from Uni - Christmas was lovely... Unfortunately New Years Eve was spent at the hospital as my Dad was taken ill. It was a week of worry and hospital visits. He's out of hospital and resting at home now which is probably driving him nuts as he's not very good at resting.... (poor mum). If you are reading this dad, please take it slow and be good.

I haven't been painting but have been visiting everyone else's blogs and would like to thank you for the welcome distraction.

The images below are from my sketchbook and were done before Christmas. Every now and again it's good to do something completely different, just about playing around and seeing where an idea; in this case a shape - will take me. Maybe it will develop into something and on the other hand maybe not.....

pen and ink

watercolour applied to the leaves and printed

digital sketch I

digital sketch II

digital sketch III

Back soon and hopefully back to normal....

Last post for 2011

Preparations for the big day are taking up all of my time and the small amount of painting done isn't in a fit shape to share. I've been battling a very stubborn painting but to no avail and now time has run out. (A lesson learned in not trying to fit too much in methinks.) No matter, 2011 has ended on a high note with a successful exhibition at the Hayloft.

I would like to finish my last post of 2011 with a special message of thanks to everyone who has shown me so much support throughout the year both in and out of the blogosphere. I wish you all a very happy holiday season and a happy, healthy and successful 2012. I look forward to catching up with everyone in the new year.

Best wishes,
Lisa x

A frozen moment

Frozen Moment

28x28cm acrylic on paper

©2010 Lisa Le Quelenec

Wow! What a storm we had last night! High winds and lashing rain, the kind of night that makes you glad to be home and tucked up in the warm. For the most part it's been a day of sunshine with the odd shower but as I type the rain is making a return and the wind is picking up. This evening will be a time to hunker down with a good book, I recently bought Turner on Tour by Inge Herold ISBN9783791332116
which is making for some interesting reading. For a small book it is nicely illustrated too. At the moment I am exploring the chapter on Venice and dreaming of a return trip..... sigh....

So to spite all of this mucky weather that's around I thought I'd share this painting from the summer. I have relied heavily on photographic reference with the memories of the waves breaking in one particular spot in my head. It was quite a calm day and the sea was flat but right at the last minute the lazy swell would have one last surge of energy before hitting the sand. An almost, '..oh go on then if I must..' half hearted attitude.

I'm in the middle of a battle at the moment with a painting started last week. The pressure is on as I want to have it finished before the Christmas break.

A treasure trove

Ginkgo study coloured pencil 20x27cm ©2011 Lisa Le Quelenec

 

 

 

Whelk study ©2011 Lisa Le Quelenec

Explorations of some of the treasure I've picked up recently. All of these have been drawn using coloured pencils on buff coloured paper.

A while back after a very windy day I picked up lots of ginkgo leaves but couldn't find the tree. I assumed it must have been in someones back garden. I found it last week when I took a different route. A large area of the street was golden with the leaves that had fallen. A few more specimens came home with me and now I'm thinking of a mini project exploring these lovely shapes.

Feather Study © Lisa Le Quelenec

Light across the bay

Light Across the Bay
acrylic on paper 25x25cm
©2011 Lisa Le Quelenec

Stage 2

stage 1

Stage 1&2, blocking in the basic colours using buff titanium, azure blue and indanthrene.  This painting is on HOT PRESS 300lb Arches, my favourite watercolour paper. Then using a lot of dry brushing I built up the tones I needed to give shape to the waves in the bottom section. I made the horizon especially dark using indigo mixes knowing that this would become much lighter at a later stage as more layers were added. I wanted to have tiny, subtle touches of dark in this area that would blend into the haze.

Stage 4

Stage 3

At stage 3 I could add in the silhouette of Old Harry Rocks and the delicious bright light that underlined it. Once dry I added more dry brushing to soften and lighten the dark at the horizon. I used thick blots of paint to suggest the sparkles, a lot of them were pure colour and unmixed titanium white. Touches of phthalo blue were also introduced at this stage. It doesn't really show up in the photo but I lightened the bottom wave shape with patches of the darker blue still showing through but in much smaller amounts.


Stage 4 and more dry brushing and glazing over the the whole of the water adding back some warmth. I am happy with the patina of the surface that is building up now. All the layers gel together each one partially hidden from the next but with dots and dashes showing through for a shimmering surface of colour.  A new wave shape had suggested itself and was painted in, the shadow of both of these two waves was added with glazes of indigo and phthalo. A very pale dilution of the wave glaze was used in the top of the sky.


Finally another layer of a predominantly azure mix over the water to inject a bit more colour and warmth, some dark added into the bottom wave and a few highlights..... and I'm going to call it finished. I think there will be a bit of a crop to take out a little of the sky when it comes to framing, but I won't think about that until I've gotten some distance from it.


I mentioned earlier about the patina of the surface that built up with the layers of paint. This is an aspect that is very important to me in my acrylics. As I started with a completely smooth surface for this painting, the texture that you see is just made from paint giving me more control. Had I used a paper with tooth it would look completely different and more uniform, this is something that I can find quite constricting. I've tried to get a photo of the textural qualities of  the painting - it was hard to get a close up with my camera. ( my camera skills still need improvement - the painting has a straight horizon too ;o) ) In contrast the sky area is completely smooth where it had been built up with glaze.

So this is what I have been up to over the past week or so, the short days we have now make for much shorter painting time. I've never been very good at painting by electric light despite using daylight bulbs. It does mean more drawing is back on the schedule though which is my silver lining.