I chose blue/purple and green as these colours are found in the passionflower.
SECTION A
 |
| 112 |
I chose a checkerboard design so that I could explore the colour in rows as well as on the diagonal, which created a repeat pattern vertically and horizontally.
 |
| 113 |
A narrow of strip of colour, showing the graduation clearly.
 |
| 114 |
I enhanced the design by applying a Watercolour effect in Photoshop Elements. I like the textural effect that has been created.
 |
| 115 |
This enhancement is called Fresco. The colours are more muted but the checkerboard is still clear.
 |
| 116 |
This enhancement is called Poster Edges. The squares are clearly defined but the overall design has lost brightness.
EXERCISE 2
 |
| 117 |
I painted watercolour paper in the same colours as the checkerboard and then photocopied it for further designs.
 |
| 118 |
I like the colour combinations but the design is not very satisfactory.
 |
| 119 |
This design is more interesting but I prefer to work with softer shapes (curves and spheres).
 |
| 120 |
Paper patterned with Asemic writing - very enjoyable experience!
 |
| 121 |
I moistened the print to make the colours run. The back (wrong side) shows how the printer ink has run.
 |
122
There are pink marks on the 'right side' of the Fresco paper but the result was a little disappointing.
|
 |
| 123 |
Although the back of the printer paper showed more watermarks, it was very pale against the Asemic writing, so I decided to use the 'right' side of the paper. I cut circles and placed them over the background and am pleased with the resulting design.
 |
| 124 |
Using the Fresco paper again, I added watermarked circles over the design, matching the grid, but not the background colour.
 |
| 125 |
Using the Poster Edges print, I cut fans of coloured paper and started to build up a design.
 |
| 126 |
I wanted to create a mask to block out part of the design by applying black paint. I drew the mask onto tracing paper.
 |
| 127 |
I cut out the mask, making sure I didn't cut too many holes!
 |
| 128 |
The mask placed over the design.
 |
| 129 |
I sponged black acrylic paint over the tracing paper and this is the result after it was removed. I wanted to have a series of circles but I felt that the joining lines between the circles were rather prominent.
 |
| 130 |
By drawing black lines around the circles, they come to the foreground and the joining lines recede. I was happy with the result. I also like the 'fringe' effect very much.
EXERCISE 3
A series of designs using tonal colours and shapes (131 - 136).
 |
| 131 |
 |
| 132 |
 |
| 133 |
 |
| 134 |
 |
| 135 |
 |
| 136 |
SECTION B
 |
| 137 |
I chose 2 shapes to look at. The top design comes from an embroidered pear on an Elizabethan coif and the second design was developed from examining the centre of a passionflower.
 |
| 138 |
I found these shapes tricky to manipulate but I like the movement and frenzy here, a shoal of fish pursued by a predator perhaps.
 |
| 139 |
I enhanced the design by applying 'Ink Outlines' in Photoshop Elements,
 |
| 140 |
Another variation.
 |
| 141 |
This enhancement is called 'Smudge Stick'. I think the light and shade of the colour change is very effective.
 |
| 142 |
I can see that some of the shapes have blended into the background a little too much, especially in the lower part of the design.
 |
| 143 |
Here I applied the 'Fresco' enhancement to the background print. Next I used the shape as a mask and sponged gold paint around it. The resulting outlines were not very clear so I used a black pen to show up the shape. I cut out the same shape from a black and white print of image 125 and overlaid them on the design. After adding an outline to the new shape I felt that the design was complete.
SECTION C
 |
| 144 |
I chose a semicircle to start this exercise and it proved to by very versatile.
 |
| 145 |
I cut out 4 different sizes of semicircle and arranged them on a wooden stitck.
 |
| 146 |
 |
| 147 |
 |
| 148 |
Same shape, different arrangement.
 |
| 149 |
This shape is a circle, with a 'dart'. The watercolour paper was easy to manipulate and held the shape well, after a little persuasion!
 |
| 150 |
The shape reminds me of an orchid flower.
 |
| 151 |
 |
| 152 |
Coloured watercolour paper.
 |
| 153 |
Reverse side.
 |
| 154 |
'Orchids' mounted on a wooden stick.
 |
| 155 |
Two shapes interlinked, tightly on the left, more open on the right - perhaps a flower opening up.
 |
| 156 |
It looked as though Yupo paper would take alcohol ink on both sides of the paper and it worked.
 |
| 157 |
Reverse side. Yupo paper is much thinner than watercolour paper and this caused some problems when I tried to manipulate it. It does not hold a fold easily and tears easily when hand stitched if any gathering is attempted.
 |
| 158 |
I have stapled the folded shapes in place and secured them on wooden sticks. I love the colours together, especially the beautiful variations in the random ink patterns.
 |
| 159 |
The 3D effect is not particularly pronounced as the paper didn't lend itself to folding but I still think it's vibrant and glorious!
 |
| 160 |
 |
| 161 |
As an afterthought, I held my heat gun over some unused shapes. The Yupo paper twisted and curled well but I couldn't decide whether to run the heat gun over all of 159. After a great deal of dithering, I decided to leave things as they were!
