Sketchbook - clemitis update and stamp

So here are the Clematis pictures and the new stamp tested..

 What do you think??

Sketchbook - Clematis - day 3

OK so yesterday's pages lacked background leaves. So I made a stamp from a leave taken from the garden and a) over stamped some of the pages - will need to add the flowers again and b) stamped on some freshly painted pages:..

Sketchbook - Clematis update

So I gave up waiting and started printing with both white paint and gesso for texture on one sketchbook and also on some loose pages.  Also on the first page I showed you yesterday (middle right) I lightly brushed the white flowers with some Neocolor II water soluble crayons in pale pink and then wet it slightly, before adding more gesso white flowers.  I have yet to colour the other sheets, fill in some of the backing and making the flower centres.  Not sure how these will be done yet.

How do I learn patience ?

I am sorry I have not written for so long but I have not been well and when I got better and went back to work I have been so tired each evening that I have not wanted to do any art work.
I have wanted, as many of you know, to work in my sketchbooks more but I have absolutely no patience - how do I learn patience?  For example the Clematis (Montana) in my garden has been stunning for a while now - I have taken loads of photos and decided that I wanted to do something artistic in my sketchbooks - I painted some pages green (in two books) and today I made a stamp by drawing around a print of one of my photos.  However  !!!!!  when I printed the stamp I realised that the page is not a dark enough green - so I have repainted the pages - NOW I have to wait -  Don't tell me to dry the pages with a hair dryer because I am using plastic wrap to create texture on the page. So I will have to wait until either later or tomorrow - will I still want to do the idea then?? (I know my Montana is pale pink  and I used white paint - I will try again with pinkish paint when the darker green is dry).

So whilst waiting for paint to dry :-)  I have tried out some 'texture' stamps I made a few weeks ago - you see I have been reading about people using texture stamps and stencils in their sketchbooks and at present I can't a) afford and b) find, nice texture stamps so I made some of my own.   Here are the test pages -

 

Some worked really well.

this one worked very well and was interesting as thick texture and fine texture (love it) .....

 Two did not work - I may scrap them.

 Whilst still waiting for paint to dry I may look for other stuff to make more texture stamps - these are fun!!

Still sick but up and stuff to show you

Been signed off work for yet another week - having no immune system means that this viral chest infection is going to be here for a long while.  I hope to be well enough to go back to work on 11th May.

I am out of bed now and although coughing loads every time I move or speak I am able to sit very still in the workroom :-) - I did also step into the garden - find fresh air does help. So here are photos.

I have done three journal pages - they are a bit similar - same colour and same techniques but I hope to get a bit more adventurous.
Not sure why the photos sideways on when they are saved the right way up !
Left is my old A4 recycled diary sketchbook, right here is my new A5 landscape sketchbook

here is my other A4 sketchbook 

The garden looks lovely and spring/summer like. The Iris are looking good - fallen over so I have staked them.  

Most are very dark but in the corner there is a pale one !

 Then the Clematis Montana has gone absolutely mad on the fence and the one on the wall opposite is a double one.

 

And finally my pot apple tree - I hope that each of these blossoms will become an apple - here's hoping

Some mono prints

As promised here are some of my new mono prints - this is just a selection from the 100+ that I made.  Sorry this post is photo heavy :-) I just love them all.  My next sketchbook (yes the next one!!) which is going to be a landscape A5 size (not tried landscape before) may include some of these colour mono prints extended.

More mono print fun - and a full sketchbook !!!

I have developed another 'illness' recently - I know it's probably caused by taking immune suppressants - I have Nodular Episccleritis. My eye is beginning to feel a little less itchy today.
I have had a lovely weekend with my Textile 21  friends at Kingcombe, although I was ill on Sunday night.  I made more mono prints which I will show to you in the next post - I need to scan some - most were black and white but I also tried some in colour.  I had taken some of the recent mono prints - I showed you here.  I had photocopied some, enlarged some, then cut them up, stuck some pieces into my book and then had fun extending them - I have completely filled an A6 sketchbook - that's a first for me !!!! :-) here are a few examples... on some pages it is not easy to see where the cut pieces are!

I tried to copy a couple of them in stitch (you can see my practice tonal column first):

There may be more paper and/or stitch pieces as the mood takes me, I do like this black and white work.

Today - monoprinting

When I woke it was a lovely bright sunny morning - so I went for a walk at 7.30 am and collected some interesting stuff.











When I got home I did some charcoal rubbings and then some mono printing  and press printing - the kitchen was full of paper and paint

- some of it was successful, some not :-)

 

Below are a few pages from the book we worked on last week.  I had cut some pages and started some charcoal work. The first picture on the left is at class  - the rest are from today where I had carried working on the pages and the pages opened to look 3D.  The last one on the bottom right is what appeared on the following page.