Apples – I had only worked on the right-hand page so felt it needed something more. The heap of apples is stencilled in using pastels. I used a stamp made from funky foam for the ‘branches and an expanded foam stamp for the leaves. I also used some gesso on the top part of the phot to blend it in better with the page. I am not toally satisfied with the page – I’m not sure it really hangs together very well.
Charcoal sketch. This is just a quick sketch of the hedge next to the house to try out the charcoal with some added pastel. I like the medium.
Stencilled jugs. I made 3 more lino cuts so as to have a different one for each jug. The shapes were not distinct enough so I added a bit of wash over each jug. I then used bubble wrap and sequin waste to add pattern. The original page had been gessoed over something I had tried and rejected and then a watercolour wash added. I like the textural quality of this page and I love the patterns formed by the bubblewrap – like roses!
Vases. The pastel drawing is done on a fairly absorbant piece of coloured paper, the photo is one I had used bleach on in the earlier module and didn’t use and the vase on the left is a monoprint with added pastel.
Fly, fly, fly. I stuck the funky foam tree shapes on transparency film and inked over the whole sheet as a monoprint on both pages. The right hand page is a fern print I made a while ago. As it is on heavy paper I cut out the original page and glued it in. I cut a hole in a paper doily for the sun and used a sponge to apply the acrylic paint. The outer pattern from the doily is rather faint. I added yellow wash in places.
This is work in progress. I liked the way the pattern of the ferns shows through from the previous page. The green strip of trees is glued on, the right hand page is a stencil with the paint rollered on.
I wanted to pick up the way the image of the fern showed through from the previous page, so I used a sponge roller and acrylic paint over some dried ferns to create the negative prints.
I have been experimenting with adding leaves to the plate, repositioning them, using them as masks etc. These two are the best so far. The second is on Japanese rice paper. Lots more experimenting needed!
I wanted to continue the fern imagery. This is just the background so far – some torn strips of fern images with layers of coloured wash, some negative fern prints again using the sponge roller, some gesso, scratched into in places and further watercolour wash. The challenge now is to bring some contrast and 3-dimension to the piece!
So, to finish this piece, I printed out some fern shapes onto transparency and transferred some of these using acrylic medium, also adding some small images along the right hand side. Finally I drew fern shapes with a black brush pen in the foreground and added a bit of red acrylic rollered over with wire wound over the brayer. The writing is done with a white gel pen.
I think this last piece is the most complex I have attempted as it has so many layers. It took me a long time but I am pleased with the finished page. Drawing the ferns at the end gives the 3-dimensional effect that I was looking for – of looking down into a shady secretive place.
A stitched book
I still have lots of unused papers so had a go at making a stitched book. The inside pages are in two sections, each stitched to the spine separately. The cover is made of card, covered with decorated papers inside and out, with some narrow ribbon glued in for the tie.
Inside cover:
Some of the pages:
