Forest Gloaming complete WIP

(The first three stages of this painting can be seen here)

Forest Gloaming 21x28cm mixed media on paper  ©2013Lisa Le Quelenec

By the end of stage 3 I had a very cold painting. I wanted to bring back some warmth and a little more light into the piece and so scumbled some yellow ochre and zinc white to take the edge off the very blue greens. Neater yellow ochre in the foreground warmed up the forest floor and added to the sparkle of the more purple/blue greens. Overall I have kept the cool atmosphere and the warm ochre has only served to emphasise this. (For some reason when I photograph this painting the warm ochre has been exagerated, it's not quite as obvious looking in the painting and the whole thing is quite a lot lighter. The camera is emphasising a higher contrast than in real life.) Very gently, I have strengthened the trees that stand against the light they are barely there and are suggested with broken line.

Using a NOT watercolour paper has meant that the surface has more of a texture than I would normally use but has been advantageous with some of the media. I've rather enjoyed mixing it up a little and think I will do some more work exploring mixed media.

Going daffie!

From my daffodil sketchbook ©2009Lisa Le Quelenec

From my daffodil sketchbook ©2009Lisa Le Quelenec

Two pages from near the beginning of my daffodil book, these studies are from 2009. I remember at the time I had just got a copy of   Composition: Understanding Line, Notan and Color by Arthur Wesley Dow. I would really recommend this book for exploring composition and design, it's one I refer back to time and again. I was struck by the connections between yesterday's post and these studies.

Watercolour and pencil sketch ©2013Lisa Le Quelenec

 

Experimenting with monoprinting

monoprint

New toys! Don't you just love them? I've treated myself to some new printing inks. I have previously been using oil paint which works up to a point but I'm too impatient to wait for them to dry. These shiny new inks are Schmincke waterbased lino inks. I'm just starting with a few colours and I haven't got any transparency medium as I am hoping that some of the screen printing medium that I have already will suffice. Fingers crossed as I have a huge tub of it. The colours that I chose were titanium white, indian yellow, vermillion red (just a small tube as I don't use red too often), cyan, prussian blue and burnt sienna.

monoprint with added ink, coloured pencil and watercolour

I inked up some of the vermillion red and indian yellow and got stuck in. Firey hot colours for the grey day that we are having. A quick line drawing to loosen up. I love the soft diffused line of this technique. The inks are much, much more fluid than I was expecting, I thought they would be tackier so I think they will take a little time to get used to.


Once the ink was dry I thought I would work into the print with some other media. This experiment could well be a starting point for a painting in the future. Whilst I wouldn't say I was happy with all aspects, particularly the colours, there are elements that could be experimented with further. The soft fluid character of line that you get with monoprint and the diffused texture is interesting. It's also reminded me how I like to work with more graphic imagery sometimes. I'm starting to really enjoy this month on experimenting.

Sketchbook page - daffodils

 

                                     Daffodil sketchbook page A4 ©2013Lisa Le Quelenec                                      

I know that I am jumping the gun a bit as it will be a while until spring but I couldn't resist! His Nibbs added a surprise to my studio - a beautiful bunch of early daffodils.  They are my favourite, a splash of cheerful yellow to brighten up the grey of winter. A reminder of the warmer, brighter months to come.

Out came my daffodil project book which I didn't think I would be using so early in the year. Every year I add to the sketches and studies, a project that came about because I had a problem with painting yellow. Bit by bit I overcame the issue as I learnt to utilise the other colours in the palette to emphasize the yellow-ness of the blooms. To see a couple of pages from last years daffodil studies click here.

It is fitting to be using this sketchbook to develop the experimental theme I'm exploring this month. I've used fibre tipped pens, inktense, derwent watersoluble graphite and watercolour on this page after thoroughly dampening the paper before starting to draw. (except where the fibre tipped pen is, for that one I wet the paper after with a brush)

I really like the softened line that the watersoluble pencils give on damp paper, it makes me think of linear monoprints. Maybe I should 'play' with that technique next?

 

A new year and a new WIP

stage 1

stage 2

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a lovely time this holiday season. I've had a lovely break and feel raring to go. 

With no pressing deadlines coming up in January I have decided to take a little time out for experimenting and play. During December and most of November I had so many ideas flitting around my head and not enough time to explore so I'm rather looking forward to this month. January is still so cold and dark and feels decidedly flat after the glitz, sparkle and excitement of December what better way to cheer up the month than to hole up in the studio and play.

In the spirit of experimentation I thought I'd start this years posts by sharing a wip. This piece has been inspired by a walk in the New Forest, I wanted to capture the feeling of walking through the dense trees, their thick canopy overhead, into the bright light of a clearing. The word that kept coming to mind on this particular day was 'gloaming'. Whilst not strictly correct the lack of light in the thick of the forest can often feel like dusk.

Stage 1 - I began with a quick pencil drawing lightly plotting the shapes of the trunks and then adding oil pastel to this which would act as a resist to the watercolour layer that was to come. I scratched back into the oil pastel with a sharp pencil adding in the markings on the birch trunks. The watercolour stage was rather fun, soaking the paper and adding lots of dilute paint, tilting the board and letting gravity have it's way, encouraging back runs. Whilst the paper was still very wet I added some trunks very lightly with the side of a pencil. The extra pressure on the paper was sufficient to give a subtle tone indicating but not over stating the trees presence against the brightest light.

Stage 2 - Building up the trunks with a mixture of coloured pencil and acrylic. I scratched into wet and dry paint enjoying making marks and building up the darker tones, adding in highlights here and there. Then I took stock - the painting felt a little too warm and didn't have the cool and damp feeling that I associate with the forest, I need to shift the colour temperature. Also the left hand side needed more trees to counterbalance the weight on the right.

Stage 3 - More trunks but with less detail on the left, I made these darker in tone to balance the weight on the right. I added light glazes of a phthalo turquoise mix to cool down the temperature which got progressively stronger towards the right away from the light source into the denser trees. With a dry brush and acrylic paint I've added the suggestion of foliage from the forest floor. Finally to contrast against the cool blue greens I've added light touches of cadmium orange (I was feeling reckless, I wouldn't normally use this colour but it felt 'right' in this painting.) I'm leaving this piece here and will return to it next week with fresh eyes.

Stage 3 Forest Gloaming 21x28cm mixed media on paper  ©2013Lisa Le Quelenec

Season greetings

Wishing everyone very happy holidays and best wishes for a healthy, happy, creative & successful 2013. Thank you for checking in to my seaside studio and for all your support throughout the last twelve months. I look forward to seeing you in the new year.

                                                                                                                Best wishes Lisa x

Urchin tree watercolour ©2012Lisa Le Quelenec

Beach Life - a triptych

Beach Life       50.5x21.5cm mounted       ©2012LisaLeQuelenec

I love painting these little watercolour studies. I was thinking about framing and ways of presenting them for exhibition and thought I would try them out in a mount as a triptych. Usually I paint these studies on  Khadi  handmade paper but these were on a different paper (not sure which but it is more like a usual watercolour paper) I quite like seeing them as a collection but what do you think?

Seahorse studies

Seahorse studies   pencil & watercolour A3   ©2012Lisa Le Quelenc

I'd forgotten about some photos that I had taken some years ago at an aquarium of these little fellows. I stumbled across them recently and whilst the photographs were a little out of focus and dark there was just enough information coupled with memory to produce this couple of studies.

They are such beautiful, graceful and shy creatures. I wish I could remember where I saw them so that I could go back again to observe them.

Sea fan pen and ink

           Sea Fan sketch pen and ink ©2012Lisa Le Quelenec         

It feels like a long time since I last posted, so much has been going on. I've not had much time over the last week to do any work that I could post but I did grab some time for sketching a sea fan. I turned to pen and ink as I haven't used this medium for a while and I love the sensitivity of a dip pen. Whilst drawing I was struck by the amazing efficiency of the structure of the sea fan. The flatness and the way the fronds rarely overlap managing to form a very efficient net to filter it's food from the water. I think I could learn some lessons in efficiency from the sea fan.... (note to self; one thing at a time, one direction at a time and go with the flow....)

From the dunes

From the Dunes   30x30cm acrylic on canvas   ©2012LisaLeQuelenec

With all the rain, the flooding and the sudden drop in temperature over the last couple of weeks I have been dreaming of summer. Particularly sitting on the beach at shell bay and watching the tide. I felt like I deserved a little warmth, sunshine and rest after the hectic time spent with getting exhibitions together and so indulged myself - this is the result. Some people don't like blue paintings for the cold feeling that it gives them. These soft blues always make me think the opposite. I get transported to the feeling of summer heat.

Every time that I paint a view like this I seem to be honing down and painting less and less detail. A part of me wonders if I will get to a point where there is no realistic point of reference and I end with paintings of nothing but colour and light. Something for me to ponder going forward I think.