Drawing Inspired by Landscapes II

It was good to have the time to work into my sketchbook but just as my ideas were coming together and I thought I might be on the brink of something 'big', I had to go back to work! Hopefully, the ideas are brewing nicely, somewhere in my head.

I was working with a photograph where the light made the soil look a dark maroon colour and it reminded me of a collage I created using a limited selection of papers. If I wanted to represent trees and I only had pink paper left, then pink they were. I quite liked the effect of using colours you wouldn't expect to find in a landscape. So I used a pinky colour in some of my sketches. 

This one was created by rubbings and ink washes on paper, which was then torn to represent the field structure in one of my landscape pictures. 

This one was created with a wax and wash technique.

This was created with two small mono prints that I stuck together and coloured to create a simple landscape. The dark patch in the sky area looked like a tree when it was in black and white but strangely, became less tree-like once I had added some green.

 

This is a section of a larger piece which I folded in the same way as the folded paper in my my last post . It suggests rocks and water to me and I plan to work back into this one. .

 

 

I really liked the technique of folding paper to create different perspectives. Simple but effective. I also tried it on a photograph of Lake Louise and whilst it is a magnificent photograph, which is more to do with the landscape than my photography skills, I find it a little overwhelming. Where to start, how to represent it? But folding the image without thought to where abouts in the image the folds would fall, takes a lot of the dithering and decision making away from you. The folding created a number of lovely images that I could work with. I'll be doing this again.

Drawing Inspired by Landscapes

It's not often that I take time off work to go on a course but today I went to Amanda Hislop's landscape sketchbook course at Art Van Go. The first thing that I did was to draw (quickly) from one of my photographs using Markal stiks and inks. Firstly on one side of the paper and then...

...on the other side.

 

The paper was then cut to create a book-like structure.

 

The cuts and folds create mini pictures and new perspectives and here are just some of them:

 

 

 

I guess you could achieve something similar with a pair of 'L' shapes but I think the cutting and folding does make you consider combinations you may not otherwise have done.

 

It's been really nice to be 'forced' to take time out to draw into my sketchbook. It has also made me have another look at my C&G landscape sketchbook and I have been surprised by how many of the ideas still interest me enough to take them into textiles. I have many more ideas than I have time to pursue but it's probably better that way round. Of course, I won't be starting anything new until my lake piece is finished!

 

Just in case you were wondering, I did do a lot more than this today but I left the sketchbook to dry in the studio. It's a two-day course, so I've got tomorrow to look forward to, too. Hurrah!

Stitching in progress....

My last post ended with the words 'So now to the stitching....at least you can unpick that if you make a mistake!' Unfortunately, this turned out to be prophetic, I've stitched and I've unpicked. I don't have any training in quilting and there is more to it than meets the eye. When you have a vertical pole it in your piece, it becomes pretty obvious when the fabric shifts but thanks to some tips from Lesley Morgan of Committed to Cloth, I'm now on the straight (!) and narrow.

I think the stitching enhances the colours somehow.  Lots more stitching to do, lots more ends to tie off. I now have even more admiration for those who make large quilts.

Post Sampling

I couldn't put it off any longer....I had to tackle the pole in the water. So using an off-cut, I trialled 3 ways of adding a pole to my fabric.

I tried painted bondaweb, Markal Paintstiks and fabric paint. I was convinced that the painted bondaweb would be the best method but it wasn't. So glad that I trialled it!

The painted bondaweb (right) was a bit plasticy, once I'd added enough paint to achieve the desired colour. The fabric paint (bottom left) was OK but was a dense all over colour and was also a bit plasticy. My clear favourite was the Markal Paintstik (top left).

So I bravely set about adding a pole to the main piece, which I think gives it additional interest and depth.

Even though I'd trialled the techniques, I was still a bit nervous adding the Markal as it was going to be really obvious if there were any mistakes but if there are any I haven't noticed them yet. So now to the stitching....at least you can unpick that if you make a mistake!

Lago Maggiore

Back in February I posted about Dry Brushing - inspired by Italian Lakes. Since then I've dry brushed and dry brushed and then dry brushed some more and although I could continue to fiddle with the colours, I'm going to stop. Stop printing and dyeing the fabric that is. The stitching phase needs to begin as I have already entered it into the Festival of Quilts ! 

Back in February I wasn't at all happy with how my piece was going, so I stuck it in a bucket of discharge solution and started on a much smaller sample piece. This is how the sample piece turned out:

As the sample piece progressed, I gained confidence and started a new bigger piece and this is how that piece turned out:

As I had all the dyes mixed and with nothing to lose, I started to over print on the original discharged piece and this is how that piece turned out:

Ironically, it's the over printed original piece that I am planning to submit to the festival of quilts. I have lost count of how many layers of colour I have added (and taken out!).

I still plan to add the pole in the water and have a couple of ideas of how to achieve it. Both ideas are pretty irretrievable if they go wrong so I'm going to do a couple of samples first - it would be awful if it went wrong after all this effort. I'll keep you posted.

PS I have taken pictures of the fabrics in many different lights, trying to capture their true colours but never quite manage it. To see the real colours, you'll justs have to visit the Festival of quilts!