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| Both 3" square in watercolour Moleskine Watercolour, coloured pens and a touch of gouache |
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| Watercolour, black fine liner, white gel pen, silver acrylic ink (3" x 3") in Moleskine watercolour sketchbook |
In the main, I have used my watercolour Moleskine books for experimenting, trying out new materials etc. I must admit I haven't used my latest version much at all this year. However, after watching a recent video tutorial by Tracy Weinzappel I was tempted to try a bolder approach to a technique I have often used in the past.
I taped off an area of my page, liberally coated it with water and then randomly dropped in 3 or 4 watercolours, allowing them to blend at will. Once dry, the arrangement of colours might suggest a subject or composition and here I have drawn this in a black fine liner. Several negative glazes have been added to enhance the main image.
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| Watercolour Moleskine, black fine liner, watercolour, white gel pen highlights (6" x 4") |
Another collaged postcard -
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| Lino printed tissue, paste paper, texture paste, sketch and machine stitch (6" x 4" on Hahnemuehle postcard |
I am enjoying making use some of my facial sketches in these small collages.
Another sketching trip with a couple of friends to a farm cafe in the Cotswolds, complete with adjacent alpaca herd. We had booked a table for lunch in the delightful courtyard garden and spent a pleasant few hours chatting and sketching.
The original drawing and initial watercolour washes were done in situ, but I planned to add a bit more detail when I got home. I made a complete hash when I tried to add a background sky, then added more gouache which made it even worse! The solution - use a strip of the same colour paper from a blank page, cut round the shapes of the umbrella and background foliage and stick it over the offending area. Total disaster averted.
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| Pen, watercolour, gouache, wax pastel in Hahnemuehle cappuccino sketchbook |
Over the winter months I have been looking into the possibilities of eco dyeing, both paper and fabric. I have searched the internet for information, got hold of an old saucepan and with spring's new plant growth decided it was time to jump in and have a go. Sue Brown's recent Instagram post was also instrumental in pushing me into action (#sundaypromptswithSue).
My bundle included two strips of cartridge paper, a couple of watercolour paper offcuts and a bit of lightly tea-stained calico. On these I arranged bluebells, muscari (grape hyacinth)*, rose leaves, dandelions and ivy leaves. A couple of tablespoons of distilled vinegar was added to the small saucepan of water, weighted down with a couple of big stones and set to boil gently for an hour. I had forgotten to add either onion skins or any rusted elements to my bundle, so I just put these in the water as it came to the boil.
* On one site I visited the muscari was shown as producing a beautiful blue dye - I have a plentiful supply of this flower in my garden, but unfortunately they were really past their best. The bluebells did give a slight hint of blue, but perhaps I need to limit the different colours of plants I use in one batch to get a stronger result.
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| A hint of blue muscari and pink from the young rose leaves |
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| Dandelion flowers |
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| Bluebells and muscari |
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| The piece of fabric (at the top of this image) came out much darker than the papers |
I am not over-thinking these collage pages, just grabbing a few hand printed papers and other scraps from my folders and seeing what goes together.
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| Book page weaving, hand-printed paper (mainly tissue), black and gold pens |
It seems an age since I've actually done any sketching from life, but felt I ought to capture this year's amaryllis blooms before they fade away.
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| Fine liner pen and dry watercolour pencil in the Hahnemuehle cappucino sketchbook |
This bulb was from Christmas 2019; I just left it in its original pot and wasn't sure if it would come to anything this year. However, it is a bit like Jack's beanstalk - it is now a metre tall and I don't know how it is managing to stay upright.
I have finally finished the squares needed to make up my new iPad cover. I am not sure whether I want to quilt these individually (Teesha Moore style) or sew them together and then quilt as one piece. Quilting is not something I have attempted before. First I need to get hold of some wadding.
I have submitted a small piece for the exhibition and exchange organised for World Book Night 2021, entitled The Herbarium.
The subject - a flower (related to a poem, book or text) - could be made with paper, fabric, collage, drawn, printed or photographic, but measure no more than 8 x 8 cm (just over 3" square). I used a cut-down version of the paper cast which decorated my artist's book about our local Snakes Head Fritillary Nature Reserve. Fortunately, I still had a piece of the painted paper used on the cover of that book; this was glued to mount board to provide a sturdy base, plus the required means of hanging.
More details about the original artist's book can be seen here and here (scroll down in my Book Binding page).
I drew out this clematis design some months ago and this week finally got down to cutting my lino (actually Softcut rather than traditional lino).
I have done some trial prints using gesso and white acrylic as my medium and these have been hand coloured and attached to A6 cards.
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I decided to use a more restrained approach to the rest of this page spread. Again, I used acrylic ink with a dip pen as well as adding areas of shading with dry Inktense pencils, then cross hatching with fine liner and gel pens.
With various pre-Christmas tasks taking precedence, I have slipped behind with my sketchbook challenge. However, I did start work on another spread last night.
This began with a scrap of painted and printed paper stitched onto the righthand page, Inktense pencils and gel pens emphasising the flower forms. I decided to continue the spread with a floral-themed pattern using acrylic paint with lino, foam and cork stamps, followed up by some "demented doodling" using fine liner pens, acrylic ink and gel pens. I am not sure I will have the patience to complete the left-hand page with quite the same level of detail!
I have watched all the 8 videos in this course now, but I believe I can refer back to them indefinitely. I thoroughly enjoyed the tutorials and, although it is not my usual way of working, it's refreshing to try a different approach. There was a lot to take in and I am far from finishing my sketchbook, so I will take my time with it over the next few weeks.
This spread used collaged trial lino prints (with added pen patterning), foam and lino printed tissue, graphite rubbing and (just because it wasn't busy enough!) some text.
On this page I utilised oddments of foam and lino printed paper to create a still life collage.
I used Indian ink again on the lefthand image, using white gesso as a base for the flower and leaves to enable me to use a dip pen and acrylic ink to add detail and colour.
For the other image I printed small lino cuts and foam stamps with ink-tinted gesso, adding line work with acrylic ink and gel pens.
Thank goodness it's nearly the end of the month - I'm beginning to run out of ideas for making my sketches stand out on this background.
Some experiments in an effort to make my sketches stand out more on this painted background.
On the left, I painted Indian ink for the inset background, sketching on top with metallic gel pens. This certainly made the image stand out.
On the right I used an underpainting of white gesso, drawing with a fine liner pen and adding colour with Inktense washes.
This is the start of side two of my Inktober folded sketchbook. I must admit I am finding the colour and marks on this side of the paper more distracting to sketch over. I have had to be bolder with the black, inked lines and perhaps a bit heavier with the Inktense colour.
I am halfway there! I have completed one side of my fold sketchbook.
Last week my daughter and I visited a sculpture park in the Cotswolds. It was a reasonably fine day and I took plenty of photos (there were well over 100 sculptures both large and small) so a couple provided me with subjects for my 15th and 16th sketches.
This is the full, unfolded side. I have now reversed the folds and started on the other side for the remainder of the month.
