ONLINE ART COURSE – THE LANDSCAPE CHALLENGE PART 3, AND LILY THE TELLY ADDICT

For parts 1 and 2 of this challenge, please see my blog posts here and here.

The completion of the Landscape Challenge! This has been the most fun project to do, and I am more than happy with the result. I had many thoughts of embellishing it and adding gold and all sorts, but in the end I decided against it. It speaks for itself and needs no further embellishment.

The vellum overlay

I taped a piece of vellum over the painting so that it would anchor it exactly in place, and also act as a hinge, so that I could keep lifting it up to check what was going on. I then proceeded to trace the outlines of the painting onto the vellum. Once I was happy with that stage, I added various doodles and Zentangles to create the finished overlay which could stand as a piece of art in its own right. For the above photo, I slipped a piece of white paper under the vellum so that all the details of the drawing could be seen.

I have never seen anyone else using this technique, so I think I am safe in saying that it is my own invention. I first did it for my “Mamhead Memories” album, commemorating a walk through some local woods. In that book I chose several photos and manipulated them, and then created a traced vellum overlay. Here is an example.

It’s an interesting technique because both the lower and upper layers can stand alone, but together the sum is greater than the parts, with each enhancing one another. I have not done it with a painting before; only photographs.

Here are a couple of close-up shots of the overlay.

You can see the pencil line around the edge, which would indicate where I would cut the vellum to fit over the page. I traced a line just a little distance away from the border, so that the Kuretake Graphite Blue watercolour border would show.

Attaching the vellum overlay

Here is the completed painting after I trimmed off the perforations from the sketch book.

If you look closely you can see some curved pencil lines drawn near the border on the corners on the right, which are guides for lining up the overlay, and also a straight line down the left hand side. This line is a slit cut through the painting. Here, I have inserted a piece of scrap paper to show the slit more clearly.

The overlay again, placed on a piece of white paper to show it up. I have now cut it out, following my pencil line. On the left you can see that I have cut a tab. I scored along this line and folded it to the back.

I threaded the tab through the slit and folded it over onto the back of the drawing. I glued and taped it in place. This way, the hinge of the overlay is invisible on the front of the picture.

The completed project

Here is the painting with the hinged vellum overlay in place.

This is how it looks with the overlay turned back.

Here is the short video showing the interactive element in action.

My thoughts on its completion

This has turned out better than I could have hoped. I wanted to depart from traditional landscape colours and create a vibrant painting with a totally different palette, concentrating on values rather than true-life colours; in the end it isn’t the colours that count, but the values which make it spring to life. I have never done anything like this before and it was a great adventure!

I am glad that I added the wash of Graphite Blue inside the border, which creates a small area of separation between border and picture, and also makes the edge of the vellum less obvious, especially as I have cut the latter to follow the shape of the border.

Something I didn’t expect was that the vellum had the effect of dulling the vibrancy of the colour of the painting, making it blend pleasingly with the border.

Turning back the overlay is quite a surprise. With it in place, you have a more muted and traditional picture, until you zoom in and see the decorative pen work, and it is only when you turn it back that you see the full vibrancy of it. Someone said to me today that it reminded her of a landscape bathed in evening light at sunset – something I had not considered.

Because of its interactive nature, this is not a picture to frame and hang on the wall. It has to take up residence in a book. This is the sort of art I love to do – books with interactive elements, which are tactile – designed to be handled and enjoyed. The surface of the vellum is smooth to the touch and quite different from the paper underneath, which is also another tactile experience.

This has also been a special project because of my personal attachment to the place, and all the happy memories associated with it throughout my entire life.

Following the brief?

At the beginning of this challenge at the end of the landscapes module, our teacher Phil said that he would be giving us minimal instructions for the project as we were capable now of launching out on our own. All he required was that we should use at least two different media to create a landscape of our choice, either from one of his reference photos, or from one of our own.

Phil’s guiding hand has taught us all so much as we have progressed to this stage in the course. Lately, I have started to feel that his guiding hand has in some ways become his restraining hand, as I have tried my best to stick to the brief, with varying degrees of success! I have been tempted more than once to depart from the brief and do my own thing. This was the first time that his hand was well and truly off the tiller and we were free to launch into the deep.

As a result of this, all restraints were off and I decided to Go Wild! Not just the colours, but incorporating an interactive element which is so much a part of how I express my art, and also with quite a few more than two different media! Here is what I have used.  Drawing paper from my sketchbook, and vellum, glue and tape, scissors and cutting blade, and the following media:

• Ink pens
• Kuretake Graphite watercolour paints
• Regular watercolour paints
• Derwent Inktense pencil (very small amount)
• Faber Castell Polycromos coloured pencils
• White acrylic marker pen for highlights

I think that’s the lot!

Techniques used include:

• Drawing
• Watercolour painting
• Coloured pencil colouring
• Zentangle
• Dual-layer construction

What an adventure it has been! Such fun, so fulfilling. I have risen to this landscape challenge and made it my own.

Lily the telly addict

Lily has always enjoyed watching TV since she was a small kitten. Here she is, caught in the act yesterday as she enjoyed an episode of Star Trek Voyager.