FMP: Bill Lawrence part 1

Bill Lawrence is an artist who lives on Skye with his wife Susie who is a photographer. Bill uses pen and ink for his work resulting in black and white images and only in recent years has he added a little colour.

My parents met Bill Lawrence when they were on their honeymoon in 1993. My sisters and I met him in 2008 when our parents took us to Skye for their 15th wedding anniversary. I was 11 at this point so my drawing skills were not what they are now - please lower your expectations - and I have never really been able to draw people - please lower them further... that's better. While our parents were looking around at all the beautiful drawings, I decided to sit and draw Bill while he was working. He noticed and came to see what I was drawing...

 (I can hear you laughing)

 I also drew a jug that was on a windowsill...

He inspired me to keep going and he very kindly gave me my first box of artists pastel pencils which I still occasionally use today.

FMP: Ferdinand Hodler

Ferdinand Hodler (1853-1918) was a Swiss painter who was involved in the Symbolist movement. He mostly used oil on canvas and concentrated on landscapes although, in later years, he did do some portrait work. He was fascinated by the Swiss Alps, women, death and eternal life. Hodler's works grew increasingly radical and abstract.

I particularly like his painting "Lake Thun, Symmetric Reflection" which he created in 1905 using oil on canvas.

I really like the colours in this painting and I think the use of blues and greens, together with the gentle ripples in the water, help create a calm atmosphere within the painting. I also like the mist included in the background at the base of the mountains. I think the depth achieved in this painting is amazing and I love the use of blues in the mountains.

I liked this painting so much, I tried making a decoupage out of it:

It doesn't really show in the face on photo but you can see it from the top/side. I think it turned out well and I will try this idea with other artists work.

Papermaking part 7

After trying to find some papermaking artists, I found someone who did pulp painting and the piece I found was pulp in the shape of a fingerprint which I thought was a really cool idea. Unfortunately, I can't remember their name and I didn't save the picture. It was that piece of work which inspired me to do a lino cut of my (enlarged) thumbprint.

Anyway, back to the pulp painting. I actually only tried this out because I ran out of the blue pulp I was using so I made a sort of sandy coloured pulp and used it to make the paper look like a wave on the beach.

I think this worked really well and it lead me to try doing a bigger piece of "pulp painting" - I'm not sure if this is actually the way you're supposed to do this though.

I started with the blue pulp for the sky - I tried to make this a little bit lighter than the pulp I was going to make for the sea so that when the piece was dry, you could see the difference. I then made the green pulp (for the land), a darker blue (for the sea), and the sandy pulp (for the beach). After I was happy with the main piece, I made a brown/black pulp to do the group of caves.

I am really pleased with these results and would love to experiment more with this technique in the future.

Terry Ann Tomlinson

Terry Ann Tomlinson is an American papermaker and sculptor. She discovered the world of handmade paper while visiting Mexico in 2002.

She used cast abaca and day lily pulp with silk thread, to make "Cryochrome I".

I really like how delicate this piece is and I think it is simple but effective. I particularly like the way the fibres show.

She also made "Purple Sunsets" using abaca, wire and vines.

 

I think the combination of the wire and green pulp is really interesting and makes cool tree shapes on the paper. I also like the stripe of purple she uses to convey the sunset.

 

I didn't know what abaca was but I found out that it is a fibre which is extracted from the leaf stems of a species of banana plant native to the Philippines. Its binomial name is Musa textilis it is also known as Manila Hemp.

 

I like the idea of trying to create a sunset and I might try this myself at some point. I also like how delicate the first piece is and I have used silk carrier rods to try to make a similarly delicate piece:

 

 

I am really pleased with this and might include it in my final piece.

 

 

Papermaking: Round Trials

Over the Easter Holidays (April 4th - 15th) , I started experimenting by making paper at home using a disposable turkey-roasting tin, a spatter guard and paper shreddings from our shredder. This obviously resulted in round sheets of paper, which I think is more interesting/unusual than the standard shaped paper we made at college.

First, I used normal shreddings to make plain paper which also had small pieces of other colours from envelopes etc. I think this added interest to the otherwise plain paper.

I then tried using dried rose petals in the pulp. It turned the water really purple but when the paper dried it was a sort of "aged" brown.

This side was exposed to the air...

... and this side was on the cloth

I have also experimented with using shredded sheet music and using shredded coloured paper to make handmade coloured paper. I also tried adding pine needles and daffodils to the pulp. In my most recent pulps, I have also added cotton fibres to give the paper more strength and it has worked quite well.

I have decided that my final piece for this unit is going to be an artist book using a mixture of the round pulp papers I have made. For the printmaking part of my final piece I have chosen to use an enlarged version of my thumbprint (done in linocut), handprints, the feather lino (which I experimented with near the beginning of the unit) and maybe some little lino bees - more in the "Papermaking: Final Preparations" post. I am also hoping to use some different stitches, both by hand and using a sewing machine, in my final piece.

Papermaking part 6

I also experimented with leaving blank area in my paper  by holding a cookie cutter to the mould while I was getting the pulp on it. Here are some pics:

I then put it on the cloth as with the other pulp paper, got as much water off as possible and carefully removed the mould.

I sprayed colour on some of them before letting them dry.

I think they worked really well and I might use the cookie cutter idea in my final piece.

Papermaking part 5

We have also tried doing some embossing with our pulp papers (while they were still damp) which resulted in some nice effects. These are some of the ones I did:

 

I used dried flowers to make the pieces above. Some of the flowers stuck to the paper but I think it adds to the effect.

I used mount-card to make the leaf shapes which are embossed in this piece of paper and I think it worked really well. I hope to be able to use this type of effect in future projects.

Louise Tiler

Louise Tiler is an independent surface pattern designer who now lives in Saltaire.

"Louise is extremely passionate about creating intricate hand-drawn and hand-painted designs. All of her elegant artwork is carefully painted to create detailed and well thought out designs that are not only a personal signature of Louise’s hand drawn style but they are designs she is incredibly proud of because they are her own unique hand creations. Louise takes inspiration from everything around her but she has a real love for floral paintings, vintage pattern and historical textile design. She combines traditional hand drawn techniques with modern digital processes to create vintage inspired and contemporary designs."

I love the colours and style of  the design "Little Things print (white)" and I think the simplicity of the plants make it more elegant.

I would like to experiment with this type of idea with some of my surface patterns or some of my other work in the future.

Natalie Ratcliffe

Natalie Ratcliffe is a Surface Pattern Designer and Printmaker who has recently gained a First Class Honours degree in Printed Textiles and Surface Pattern Design from Leeds College of Art. She specialises in surface pattern design for wallpaper, home ware and furnishings aiming to create refreshing designs that have a hand-finished quality. Her approach is experimental, playful and often explores a range of multimedia processes. Her approach is experimental, playful and often explores a range of multimedia processes.

I really like these designs and I think the silhouette style of the leaves on the partially coloured background makes the designs really eye-catching.

I would like to use the idea of leaf patterns in my work as I love the variety of trees with the different types of leaves that we get in Scotland.

Rachael Taylor

Rachael Taylor is a surface pattern designer, illustrator, author and teacher from the Wirral. She has a variety of experience in different fields and uses both screen-printing and digital software for her design work.

"Her entire range of work showcases colours & patterns that are spontaneous, as Rachael loves to draw with her right & left hand & sometimes even with her eyes closed. This way her patterns are unique & full of energy; she takes inspiration from everything around her & a lot of her motifs even come from her own mood & personality!"

I particularly liked this design which uses some sort of plant as a motif.

I think the way she only used a few small circles of colour makes the design really interesting. I really like the way she used a continuous line to add texture/pattern to the leaves. I also like the range of line thickness throughout the design as I think it adds more to the pattern as a whole.

I will try to use a variety of line thicknesses in my design for our Surface Pattern unit.