update on the moleskine exchange

2 sketchbooks arrived from Gesa for the moleskine exchange, belonging to Brian and Lorraine - and they are looking fabulous! :>)

Lorraines theme is CLOSE. She started the book off with a drawing of her beloved garden in coloured pencil , closely followed by a naughty couple in the undergrowth by David getting very close ;>) , already shown on our website. Now Gesa has followed on with this great lively view of children and tenements, washing blowing in the breeze. It somehow has echoes of the stable and Bethlehem don't you think?

Gesa Helm's gorgeous lively Joan Eardley tribute - In Lorraine's sketchbook in the moley exchange.

Joan Eardley is a favourite artist of mine, I love both her Glasgow tenement paintings of urchins and her beautiful free abstracted landscapes.


a close up of the children by Gesa Helms

The other book belongs to Brian, who started off with moody local landscapes in coloured pencil - did you use solvent Brian? the double page Marsh feels rougher to the touch than the other pages. Closely followed by another moody view across 4 pages of Lough Swilly by Lorraine, then Gesa showed sketches of the Isle of Eigg. It's a fabulous book!


so now I have to follow these!

Brian's theme is Stretch, see the website (link below) for further details of it as it's interesting and challenging - I tried to meet it and here's a fragment of something entirely different I experimented with, involving all his criteria of changing, challenging, reworking ......


and yes it is embossed.

Do have a look at our site as you can see all the pages there

http://moleskineexchange.blogspot.com/


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Comments

Shirley Anne Sherris said…
Now I do like the embossing. I really like 3D texture in artwork - hence textiles or should I say 'tactiles'. The embossing makes you want to stroke it.
Cheers
2:01 pm
vivien said…
that was FAST!
2:03 pm
dinahmow said…
Nice 'boss! What did you use, Vivien? (I used to have some old dental tools til someone else thought he/she was more entitled to them. :( )
9:33 pm
vivien said…
Hi Dinah - it was a 'blind' lino print - putting the lino through an etching press with a layer of foam rubber to cushion it and push the damp paper into the grooves.

The original was of trees and really didn't work :>( I think that what I've done with it works ok - changing it into .....

well that will have to wait until I post it once Stephanie receives the book ;>)

that's the nice thing about the plan chest - all those failures and 'things to work on' are accessible now :>)
5:40 pm
vivien said…
dental tools sound really useful items :>)
5:40 pm
Gesa said…
thanks for the lovely write-up, vivien. it's so nice to see the various entries in person, isn't it?
i'm very curious about the embossing. i came across one of the glasgow art school graduates last year who did some beautiful embossing on white-white paper... i just need to find time to properly get going with the printing course once i'm back in glasgow. the textures fascinate me.
7:41 pm
vivien said…
yes, it's great seeing the work in real life - being able to study them closely and revisit :>) they are all so much better than onscreen.

Yes, it's a shame that we miss out on seeing much of some people's work - it maybe needs a mathematician to arrange a future exchange and work out permutations to change the order of sending the books a little? making books criss cross - making people partners so one time the book goes to A and the next book to B, winding in and out in strands so that the books keep moving ..... don't think my maths is up to it!
8:50 am
Lor Lor said…
Vivien, what a great write up of Gesa's work in my moly.
I agree with your comment about the stable and Bethleham.
I can't wait to see the embossed details you've included in your contribution.
Also, I agree a future exchange would be great.
10:12 pm
vivien said…
I'm glad someone else saw the Bethlehem stable echoes in it :>)

I lose track of who has done what in my book and suddenly realise that something I really like is in MY book - and I'm extra happy!
6:41 pm
Brian McGurgan said…
Wow, your work in my book is looking very cool Vivien. Like others, I'm intrigued by the embossing and will look forward to seeing - and touching - this work in person. I love the colors you're working with here as well and the composition is very strong - so much so that it keeps pulling me back for another look.

My drawings were done with Conté carres (crayons) and pastel pencil heavily rubbed with paper towel and I also used soft pastel over these on the drawing that spans two pages. For that largest drawing, I sprayed fixative after each layer of soft pastel. I'm using the same ingredients on my work for Casey's book but am applying the soft pastel very lightly and so far have not used any fixative. I like the dry, nearly transparent "washes" of color you can get on the smooth Moleskine paper when you rub the pastel strokes lightly to even things out.
1:15 am
vivien said…
thanks for that explanation Brian - It sounds interesting and I hadn't thought of doing that on the moley paper - experiments coming up :>)
9:12 pm
vivien said…
thanks for that explanation Brian - It sounds interesting and I hadn't thought of doing that on the moley paper - experiments coming up :>)
9:12 pm
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