I recently did a short online workshop with Pat Southern-Pearce (booked via Ardington School of Crafts). Pat is well-known in the Urban Sketching community and has a very distinctive style, using mixed media materials (here she used mainly watercolour pencils and crayons, ink and gel pens).
The following two images were completed following along with Pat's demonstrations. I used a Paperchase Kraft sketchbook (7" x 9").
Not all my efforts in this series have been successful or pleasing. The first two below are rather dull. I used a base coat of gold acrylic ink for the fuchsia, thinking it would gleam through the subsequent washes of watercolour, but rather it seemed to dull them down. Adding gouache to try and brighten things up didn't work either. The hollyhocks were painted in gouache over a watercolour base, with added watercolour pencil, gel pens and Neopastel - definitely lacking the delicacy of the actual flowers. (All in a Moleskine sketchbook)
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| Gold ink base, with watercolour, gouache and gel pen (3" x 3") |
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| Watercolour, gouache, watercolour pencil, gel pens and Neopastel (3" x 3") |
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| Watercolour and fine liner pen (3" x 3") |
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| Watercolour, fine liner and gel pens (3" x 3") |
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| Pen and watercolour 3" x 3" Cobalt Orange, Magenta and Cobalt Turquoise plus white gel pen |
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| Watercolour, black fine liner, white gel pen 3" x 3" |
I have been having issues with the removable tape to mask off the edges of these small images. Stix2 removable tape worked OK with my first two efforts, but subsequently began to tear the paper surface in some places. On this image (and a subsequent one) I put down a band of matte medium around the edge of the square, then used the tape, but that only resulted in the paint bleeding under the tape.
I have since raided the first aid box and tried out some microporous dressings tape - so far this seems to be a better option.
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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") |
I have started to over-think these postcard collages instead of quickly just grabbing what comes to hand - not necessarily a good idea.
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| Handprinted tissue, mulberry and cartridge paper, acrylic, gel pens and machine stitch (Hahnemeuhle watercolour postcard 6" x 4") |
I have long admired the beautiful Chinese thread books made by some book artists, but the structure looked rather daunting to me. However, on this rather miserable, damp day I decided to tackle the smallest component, the twist box, to see how I got on.
I used an offcut of painted computer paper - this was only coloured on one side, so once the folding and gluing was complete I collaged matching green papers over the white facings, with the pink paper flower petals adding a bit more interest.
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| 3" x 3" |
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 small collage using one of my Hahnemuehle postcards.
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| Printed and painted tissue, book page, scanned sketch, gold gel pen, machine stitch (6" x 4") |
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 |
Since I finished my collage journal last month I have missed the playfulness of cutting, tearing and sticking random oddments of painted papers. I have a box of Hahnemuehle watercolour postcards which I have only used on a couple of occasions and the size of these appealed to me as a substrate for further paste and paper experiments. I also added machine stitching for more texture and interest.
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| 6" x 4" Hahnemeuhle watercolour postcards |
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| Ink, acrylic, paste paper, lino print, stencilled texture paste, gel pens and machine stitch |
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| Ink, acrylic, gesso, lino print, foam stamps, gel pens and machine stitch |
To recap, this journal was started in response to a 5 day challenge by collage artist Lydia Rink. A set of 5 instruction videos plus a materials list were provided, starting with how to make a simple A5 journal, and making your own collage papers, plus sourcing images and letter forms from magazines, posters, etc.
I have used some pre-printed images and text, but mainly utilised my own painted and hand-printed papers together with snippets from my sketchbooks. It took me a couple of pages to get into a way of working that suited me, but I enjoyed the process.
I have come to the end of my collage journal, although I am tempted to re-do the first couple of pages which are very uninspiring. However, I am glad I worked through that stage and thoroughly enjoyed the challenge - thanks to Lydia Rink for sharing her process.
Now I had better get on and start replenishing my files of painted and printed papers for future collage experiments.
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 |
Hopefully this short video will give you an idea of how it works.
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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