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").
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| 3" x 3" in watercolour Moleskine |
I tried out Golden high flow and fluid acrylics on this one. After the subtlety of watercolour, I was a bit overwhelmed by the strength of just a small amount of acrylic. I went overboard and added a background glaze of gold ink, then decided to try and tone that down with some hatching in watercolour pencil and white Neo-pastel.
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") |
After a couple of dismal days, our small group were fortunate to choose excellent weather for our planned sketching trip to Eastleach village in the Cotswolds earlier this week.
We met up for coffee on arrival and then later for lunch on the terrace of the Victoria Inn. My first sketch was of the Clock Tower Cottages, just across from the Inn. Lots of awkward angles to contend with here. These five cottages (built in the early 1870s) were designed by a renowned Victorian architect, Henry Astley Darbishire, at the request of the squire, Sir Thoms Bazley. It is understood they were originally used as almshouses.
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| Pencil and pen sketch (8" x 5.5") |
After lunch we made our way over the old "clapper" footbridge and alongside the River Leach, where I found a shady spot near one of the two churches in the village.
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| Pen and watercolour (8" x 5.5") |
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.
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 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.
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| Book pages, printed tissue and old sketches |
Another five pages to fill in this handmade sketchbook.
I mentioned earlier that I was following an online course by Lydia Rink. The first task was to construct a simple handmade journal for our collage work. Lydia uses text, letter shapes and found images - you can see some of her work here.
The first couple of exercises related mainly to shapes and composition and I must admit my initial attempts are not worth showing. However, I will persevere and hope to improve by the time my journal is complete.
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| Collage Journal cover (approx 6" x 8") |
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| Book pages and hand-printed tissue |
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| More printed tissue paper, scan of watercolour sketch and hand-cut lettering |
I am joining another 5 day challenge - Collage Up Your Journal being run by Lydia Rink. I believe she uses a lot of letters and numerals in her work and a fairly subtle palette. I spent a couple of hours printing and painting mulberry paper sheets using my lino cuts and foam stamps - all rather colourful, but they can always be toned down with further glazes if necessary.
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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Going through some loose sketches seeking inspiration for my continuing sketchbook challenge, I came across this very ancient pen and coloured pencil drawing which I felt deserved to be filed in a more substantial way. My reference was a small plein air pen sketch done on the evening of the concert. The blue collaged panel hints at the firework display which fizzled out due to the rain and wind.
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.
Another spread almost complete. Again, repurposed earlier work, with figures vaguely based on the type of traditional design used for playing cards.
For the background I used a purchased stencil, the Queen and the four symbols are lino prints, the King and the Knave are mono printed using oil-based ink (with some added pencil details). As my attempts at mono printing the Jester did not come out well, I used my Sharpie drawing instead, with colour pencil.
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 managed to get my last page finished just before the stroke of midnight!
I much prefer the first side which is more cohesive. The background of the second side proved to be too busy and distracting, although it did make me experiment more with the ink based products in an effort to clarify the sketches.
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| The complete second side |
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| The first side |
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| The folded book giving me 32 sides measuring 4" x 6" |
