An art to wintering...

Quote from my sketchbook   ©2019LisaLeQuelenec

I am slow to get started this year. I found this quote in an old sketchbook recently and it resonated with me once again. I am trying to 'hibernate magnificently' ( it involves old sketchbooks and lots of coffee so far) refilling my well of energy and ideas and I am 'turning inward' for a while.

I was very fortunate to be given the book below for Christmas and I have been savouring it. So much of what is written expresses very elegantly what I have been trying to say for a long time. I am enjoying it immensely. I have to say though I was a little disappointed in the books reproductions as they have printed so dark. The work that I know of his is suffused with light - it's what attracts me to his paintings - so it is a shame to see them so dull in the book. However the written content more than makes up for this.

These grey days of Winter can be so tiring but today there is a little sun so I will try to top up my vitamin D with a walk and see what I can see.

Fred Cuming RA - Another figure in the landscape

A belated Happy New Year to all :o)

Season's greetings

Merry Christmas ©2018LisaLeQuelenec

So here we are, just over a couple of weeks until the big day so I will bid you my season's greetings now. I would like to say thank you to everyone for taking time to visit the blog and commenting and those that are reading along in the background this year. It is lovely to be a part of such a friendly and supportive community.

I hope in whichever way you celebrate the holidays and to those that don't that the next few weeks are a filled with peace, good health, happiness and contentment that extend throughout 2019 - lets make it a good one.

Winter walkies

Winter Walkies    watercolour on paper 40x40cm   ©2018LisaLeQuelenec

The winter walkies I have been experiencing haven't been quite as idyllic as this. Dark, dreary, soaking wet and blowing a gale have been more the order of the day this week but still a girl can dream.... It has made me very thankful for my waterproofs.

Ironically, in a way, water has been the essential element in painting these two pieces with very wet washes, glazing and minimal pigment. I have used a triad of Daniel Smith's sodalite, cobalt blue deep and yellow ochre light again. I love, love, love the granulations they produce and it has been good to work on a slightly larger scale again.


Both paintings are available in my Folksy store Seaside Studios UK.

One Man & His Dog   watercolour on paper 40x40cm   ©2018LisaLeQuelenec

The beach to themselves

The beach to themselves   collagraph monoprint and mixed media 19x14.5cm   ©2018LisaLeQuelenec

Two collagraph monoprints with added coloured pencil - experiments with materials. I used a variety of materials on the collagraph plates - mostly different textured papers. For the sand ripples above I used sandpaper and in the piece below I glued loose sand to the plate before varnishing. It has given very different effects. As always it seems with collagraph the art is in the inking - I continue to learn with each and every print. It is such a satisfying process.

Last stroll of the day   collagraph monoprint and mixed media 19x14.5cm   ©2018LisaLeQuelenec 

Both are available at Seaside Studios UK on Folksy.

The mist rolled in

The Mist Rolled In (detail)   watercolour 12x18cm   ©2018LisaLeQuelenec

The Mist Rolled In  watercolour 12x18cm   ©2018LisaLeQuelenec

Subtle tones and barely there colour. A blanket of mist rolls in off the sea masking sight and sound.

(This one wasn't fun to try and photograph, the camera has bleached the colour a little too much.)


Available at Seaside Studios UK Etsy

First to the sea

Looking for Treats (in progress)   17.5x17.5cm watercolour on paper   ©2018LisaLeQuelenec

First to the Sea   watercolour on paper 8x13cm   ©2018LisaLeQuelenec

Have you ever been to the beach really, really early in the morning before anyone else has arrived with a low tide and pristine virgin sand? You can be alone with your thoughts enjoying the breeze listening to your breath and the sound of your footsteps that dissipates into the big empty stillness as you are slowly warmed by the sun.



The colour chart from a few posts back is certainly coming in useful. Just a touch of colour in the mix and the atmosphere has changed.


These paintings are available at Seaside studios UK on etsy

Looking for Treats   17.5x17.5cm watercolour on paper   ©2018LisaLeQuelenec

 

Walking the dog II

The first two paintings for this mini series... once again I am in love with Daniel Smith's Sodalite Genuine and its gorgeous granulation's.

Walking the dog   watercolour on paper 17.5x17.5cm   ©2018LisaLeQuelenec

Walking the dog II   watercolour on paper 19.5x19.5cm   ©2018LisaLeQuelenec

Both paintings are available at Seasidestudiosuk on Etsy.

It might be time for a little colour. Where did I put my colour chart?

Just walking the dog

Wet sand, reflections and silhouettes fill my mind and sketchbooks at the moment. They are inspiring a new mini project. I watched an interview on Youtube with Fred Cuming one of my all time favourite artists which is where the quote in my sketchbook has come from. He said;

'I might be the only person in miles of open space.

It provides me with endlessly fascinating problems

of conveying something which is about nothing

more than emptiness.'

Fred Cuming

You can see more of his work here.

Sketchbook page   watercolour and pencil   ©2018LisaLeQuelenec

He sums up so eloquently what I am trying to achieve. Light, space, solitude and quiet. I often think of my sea and sky paintings as 'the big empties' and this feels an extension of that work. Maybe the addition of a figure exaggerates that notion. Time to explore...

Sketchbook page   pencil on monoprint    ©LisaLeQuelenec

A gloomy day and a good book

It is dark, gloomy and decidedly cooler today. Perfect for curling up with a book. This is my latest aquisition;

The Secret Lives of Colour by Kassia St Clair 

ISBN 9781473630819 hardback

ISBN 97814730630826 ebook

I have only dipped into it so far - it is that kind of book (you don't have to read it in any particular order). The history/story of 75 colours are discussed individually. There are chapters on the science, politics and language of colour. At the end there is a glossary of other 'interesting colours'. I rather hope that this may mean a second volume may be in the future. I am enjoying her writing style and will keep this book for the gloomy days to come as something to look forward to it will chase the dull greys away.

The Golden Thread: How Fabric Changed History 

ISBN 9781473659032 has just been released and also sounds like an interesting read.

Anyway that is me set for today, hot coffee, a great book .... maybe a jammy dodger or two ;o) What are you reading at the moment?

Colour charts and colour sketchbook pages

The colour that I used in the previous post was Daniel Smith's Sodalite Genuine. I like using this colour on it's own for tonal studies for it's unpredictable granulation and the way the blue and the black sometimes separate as it's drying. I think of it as a soft faded denim and as comfortable to use as a pair of well loved jeans is to wear. It occured to me that although I have used this colour often and have used it in mixes with other blues I hadn't actually made a colour recipe chart for it with the other colours in my palette.

Colour charts for black watercolours ©2018LisaLeQuelenec

Above is the chart painted this week on the left. To the right are some charts made previously  - you can see posts about previous expermients with black watercolours  here.  It was well worth doing the chart as I don't think I would have discovered these beautiful greens that can be mixed otherwise. I particularly like the way Sodalite Genuine mixes with Cobalt Turquoise Light, Green Gold and Indanthrene Blue (all Winsor & Newton)

Pages from my colour recipe and experiment book ©2018LisaLeQuelenec

This another chart to add to my colour sketchbook or recipe book. Below are a few pages from it that I have been refering to lately with all the greys, blues and aquas. It's filled with experiments, clippings, charts, notes and all sorts - even a couple of disposable palettes have been stuck in. To be honest it is an unruly mess with splats and spodges and scribbles but it is well thumbed, dog earred in places and beyond value to me. It's been added to over a number of years and as I am running out of room I will have to re-bind it to add more pages at some point in the future. It could end up as thick as a brick :o)  .