The final blog of this 3-part series is about the future direction of my collage work. You can read parts 1 and 2 here. . My collage exploration through 2018 has been informed by my illustration and ‘sense of place’ fascination. I am now keen to immerse myself more in the media as a way of loosening myself up . I intend to become more exploratory and intuitive in my approach.
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In this second of 3 blogs reviewing my collage progress in 2018, I am going to discuss collage materials and media. The first blog sharing my works from this year is here. I am not claiming to have developed these techniques off the top of my head. Those interested in collage materials will no doubt of tried and used many of the elements I will discuss. However, all of the work I am presenting on my blogs is my own and the final results represent my own way of seeing and creating. It’s important, once you have an understanding of techniques and your own areas of interest, to follow your own path. There is plenty of opportunity for that with collage!
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Over the last 12 months I have started my journey into collage creation. It has not been without its ups and downs. I am used to drawing from life, using pens, ink and watercolour. However, I also crave texture in my visual work. The materiality of things, their physical form and the feel of their surfaces fascinates me. I am interested in how that materiality is connected with creating a sense of place. In addition, composition and colour are important aspects of my visual studies. Mixed media and collage in particular, are therefore obvious media for my exploration. Moreover, they enable individuality and an opportunity for endless experimentation!
In this series of 3 blogs, I’m going to share some of the inspirations and approaches I’ve taken so far. I will also discuss some of the techniques and media that I’ve started to explore more recently. The aim is that these additional approaches will help support a particular uniqueness and ‘own voice’ to my work.
Over the last few years, I have developed an interest in capturing events and activities through drawing. This so called reportage approach has so many outlets! I have been commissioned to capture reportage: one-off events, weddings and festivals and series of activities to name a few. Telling stories of places and occasions through drawing is my passion! With a background in landscape design, I was absolutely thrilled to be asked to record a garden Masterclass in drawings recently. This blog describes the day. Continue reading
It’s been a while since I blogged on here. No excuses so I’ve decided to get back to it with a post about Persevering with People drawing. In fact capturing people (in my drawings) is something that is often on my mind (perhaps more so than any other element of drawing). This is because capturing busy places and people is a focus of some of my commissioned reportage work, including weddings and other events. My view is that like most aspects of drawing, constant practice is required and maybe this is even more so with people! When I don’t draw people for a while I definitely notice and find it more difficult. The way I capture people, the materials, the type of drawing, the level of detail etc, is also a source of internal debate! Continue reading
Those of you that follow me on my blog and on my social media platforms will realise that I have been developing my collage work for a while, alongside my sketching work (see previous Urban Sketching in Porto blog). However, my trip to Porto is the first time that I have developed my urban collaging pieces out on location. Collage for me is a natural mixed media technique. With a background in landscape design and an interest in the materiality of things, it gives me the opportunity to explore both texture and composition and to present them in a finished piece of art. This blog shares the approach I have taken to develop the sketchbook pieces and explains their possible future development. Continue reading
Last week I was sketching in Porto! I was fortunate enough to get over to Porto in Portugal for the 9th Urban Sketching Symposium. Continue reading
Last weekend I attended a wedding at Tower Bridge where I was commissioned to draw the occasion. You can read more about my drawing at weddings here. Usually, as I am based near Manchester, my weddings are in the North West. Often my clients are very familiar with my work and drawing style and like my reportage approach! Despite that, there is always a degree of nerves, especially ones at such impressive venues as Tower Bridge and Dickens Inn, St Katherine’s Dock!
Since January of this year I’ve been working on a little exhibition of my work called: From Chorlton To The City. The exhibition is at The World Peace Cafe, The Kadampa Meditation Centre, Chorlton. The preview is on Friday 4 th May 5-8 pm. In this second part of a two-part discussion about the work (you can read the first part here), I’ll explain the illustration techniques I’ve used. There are 3 different types of images in the exhibition: Colour-first sketches; Ink-first maps and Collages. Each approach requires specific techniques.
Since January of this year I’ve been working on a Chorlton exhibition of my work called: From Chorlton To The City. The exhibition will be held at The World Peace Cafe, The Kadampa Meditation Centre, Chorlton. The preview is on Friday 4 th May 5-8 pm. In this first part of a two-part discussion about the work, I’ll explain what the exhibition is all about.
I can’t believe that we are already into February and My last blog was over a month ago! To be fair I have moved and it does take a while to settle and organise. Excuses aside it’s good to be back! As this is my first blog of the year I thought I’d share my plans for 2018. I’m really looking forward to the challenges of some new approaches: The ‘What Next’? My commissioned reportage work including several weddings (London and the North West) will also continue to be a focus of my time this year. I am also always on the look out for new reportage projects. Here are some additional things to keep me busy!: Continue reading
Last week,after 11 years living at Irlam’O’Th’ Heights , SaIford M6, and several of them spent sketching Salford, I fled for the hills. (Mossley to be precise!) Actually, it took a number of trips, over several days and there was little in the way of fleeing! This post shares a small selection of my illustrations of Salford completed over the last few years ( I wasn’t sketching regularly when I first arrived). They range from the streets immediately surrounding where I lived to the well known public locations that Salford has to offer like Salford Quays. There are stories associated with many of them and I will mention a few as I go.
It was whilst walking my greyhound down Sumner Road in Irlams ‘O’Th’Heights that I had this need to be able to draw my surroundings more effectively! As a trained designer, I was frustrated with my drawing abilities and decided I needed to draw much more regularly (and better!). From that day, I just made a start, then I joined Manchester Urban Sketchers. The rest, as they say, is history.
For the last couple of years I have been a member of Salford Art Club that meets and exhibits at the Salford Art Gallery. Coincidentally, as of 9th December 2017 there is a Manchester and Salford Urban Sketching Exhibition at the Art Gallery. Like a number of other urban sketchers, I have several pieces in the exhibition.
I often went to Monton to sketch. It has an interesting high Street and the Bridgewater canal runs nearby. I was also invited to capture the Bridgewater Weekender day held on Worsley Green.
There are numerous amazing buildings and well known areas in Salford, including:Salford Quays, Media City and Salford Lads Club. The very first sketch I had printed and sold was of the Lowry. War Horse was running a the Lowry and one of the lead actors saw my sketch of the venue, including the WarHorse trailer. He was keen to buy a copy, which we did. We also auctioned a copy, signed by all the warhorse actors, for charity.
Although the weeks before and during the move were hectic, I managed to create these last black and white sketches. They include the local streets and some views/buildings (like my local garage) that I had always had in mind to sketch, but hadn’t! I have only recently created black and white sketches as a matter of course. Now that I have the Duke Confucius 551 fude, I am enjoying the simplicity and clarity of these simple drawings.
Salford, I’m going to miss you. Because you won’t be on my doorstep, I will not be sketching you regularly. But I will be back. Onwards and Upwards, quite literally as I am in the Hills now in Mossley, Tameside. I will be posting my local sketches and those further afield as usual so please stay tuned for more of my sketching adventures. Wishing you all a very peaceful and healthy 2018. Thank you all so much for all your support and comments in the last year and here’s to a fabulous 2018 for us all!
I can’t believe that its been so long since I posted on here, the topic of this blog will give you a better understanding of why!
I have never been a very fast sketcher so snappy sketching has not been a particular focus. This is despite the fact that I do a lot of capturing things as they are happening in my drawings!- my subjects are very varied from weddings to events and special occasions to the development of places and capturing aspects of scientific research. You can check out some of my #reportage projects here.
In order to manage my time better and achieve a finished sketch more quickly I have historically turned to colour first. I love this approach but with an A4 size or more it still takes hours rather than minutes. Then a few months ago lots of things started to change. Well they say that a change is as good as a rest! I got a small studio; an additional job; I was travelling more.. You get the picture! Sketching every day was not going to be easy and pretty much impossible in the way I had been sketching. I started to take my trusted Duke Fude and notebook in the car and spend 15 – 20 min maximum ( often no more than 10) sketching before work. Under these circumstances, colour wasn’t an option and I wanted to create illustrations that had at least some identity with the place/people!
On the way to work
Top and Middle Mossley
Bottom Mossley (Manchester Road)
Around Woodend Mill, Mossley
Sketching from the street :
People
As you can see, there is nothing particularly new about the approaches I am using. But I haven’t done this type of sketching routinely before. It’s useful to have a range of approaches for different situations and this simple quick technique means that however time-poor I am, there is always a sketch to be done!.
Recently, I have been developing my watercolour approaches and starting to think about the sort of new art works that I want to create. In particular, I’ve been thinking about my watercolour development. How do I create works that are related to but distinctly separate from my urban sketching and reportage illustration? Having a studio gives me more questions and more scope!!
As I mentioned in my previous blog about watercolour, I’ve been starting to look at different media and the sorts of ‘paintings’ that interest me the most. This is fundamental to my beliefs about the purpose of paintings. I prefer the more impressionistic approaches and those that angle to a more abstract view. I prefer to allow the observer to ‘get involved’ and use their imagination! That said, I think I will always be grounded in the real world and a need to create a sense of place, at some level, in my work!
I’ve started to explore colour and tone in my watercolour development. Specifically I have explored how to achieve reflective light effects and the full range of tonal values with watercolour. I’ve also started to develop my understanding of colour mixing of watercolour using a pure pigment palette. The palette I am using is here (please ignore the top row):
I’ve also started to use a selection of brushes for different aspects of painting. These include Flat brushes, a Hake, a mop brush and two rigger brushes. That is not to mention an unruly bristle one (that I haven’t used much yet!). All have their distinct role. The paper I’ve moved onto is Saunders Waterford (140 lb; 340 gsm) Not paper (see Venetian canal image below). I originally used Bockingford which I find buckles and is not as good (see Alcatraz image below).
I created both paintings shown below from photographs on a desk easel in my studio. My aim was to develop a greater understanding of tonal values and to be able to achieve the full range of tonal values in the paintings. Both were done using the pigment palette and brushes shown above.
I have evolved my thinking and my understanding about my visual work through my watercolour exploration over the last few weeks . Based on this exploration, I am keen to develop more of a textural approach in my work and a more individual response. I am struggling to see how I do that with the pure watercolour approach I’ve been following. My background in landscape design has driven a keen interest in texture and composition. Therefore I need to explore other opportunities to achieve the layering and rich surface textures that I am seeking. Previously, I have used mixed media/ collage approaches in design. I am now going to explore how these can be developed in my artwork. Watch this space!
I have talked a lot about my 2018 Northern Towns Calendar on social media but not all in one place. Therefore, I hope that this blog provides all the key information. So as to be as succinct as possible, I’ve used a Q&A approach.
It is a case calendar, ideal for desks and small spaces. It comes in a 116 x 135mm acrylic case. There are 14 cards (one for each month and a front and back) of 250gsm gloss artboard. They are full colour on one side and gloss laminated.
This year I have created a whole series of original painted illustrations called #ThisPlace and it is these images that have been used. You can read about them here: I am interested in creating a sense of place and occasion in my drawings and the images are all created in situ. This year I wanted to focus on towns rather than cities. Each month is a different Northern place, some are Cheshire, some Lancashire and some further afield but all are Northern Towns.
Several have specific stories associated with them. For example the image of Sale was created for the MadeForSale exhibition associated with Sale Arts Trail. I jointly won the Cave Framing prize with that one! GalleryOldham have bought my image of Oldham for their collection. The image of Bolton was provided to Paddy McGuinness for his Manchester Key 103 show on a Sunday morning. I have chosen the images for their fit as a collection and to cover a range of different locations and environments e.g. Hill Towns, market places, coastal location etc. The towns included are as follows:
Bolton, Clitheroe, Grasmere, Holmfirth, Kendal, Knutsford, Longridge, Oldham, Ramsbottom, Rawtenstall, Sale, Stockport, Todmorden and Whitby.
All the illustrations are pen, ink and watercolour. I have created the majority of these by adding colour first then the ink linework. I do a lot of my work this way. A few, e.g. Whitby, Sale, have been done pen and ink first, with colour afterwards.
The Northern Towns calendar costs £15 Retail. If I am sending it to you in the post, then this is an additional £3 (UK) or please ask for international prices. If you would like a calendar sent as a gift then just provide me with the address details and information to be put onto the gift tag. I will wrap it and provide a handwritten note.
You can buy my Northern Towns Calendar (which makes a great present!) from me directly (please email me at liz@lizsscribbles.com I can send you the calendar (or you can collect from my studio in Mossley). Alternatively, you can purchase from me at Sale Arts Trail Christmas bazaar on 9th and 10th December 2017 where I will have a stall selling #ThisPlace originals, prints and calendars. There are also several outlets selling the calendar. These include Royal Exchange Theatre Craft shop, St Ann’s Square, Manchester and Hearts for Homes, Ramsbottom. But hurry! These limited edition calendars are selling well!