Final mockup of the Peninsula Skyline

Inked cloud, with template still in place

Lettered Diary Entry, artwork prepared for template cutting

Sue Williams removing excess ink from lettering

Completed Cloud Panel

For more information regarding the artist and the background to the creation of this artwork go to  www.suewilliamsondiary.blogspot.com

Artist: Sue Williamson

Title: A Random History of Cape Town – 1499 – 1994

Calligraphy: Hilary Adams | www.hilaryadams.co.za

Sandblasting: Dawid Visser | creativeglassinfo@gmail.com

When Sue Williams of the Eastern Cape Calligraphers approached me during the Carl Rohrs workshops in Cape Town last July with the proposal that I consider facilitating a workshop on decorative backgrounds I was both flattered and highly trepidatious.  And so it was, that I found myself in Port Elizabeth on the first weekend of November 2009 working with the most welcoming group of artists. It is not for nothing that PE is generally reputed to be the “Friendly City”.

I have spent many years experimenting with various mediums on all sorts of substraits and the opportunity to pass on some of this hard won knowledge was too good to miss. But how to pack all this into two days – that was the challenge.

To this end, the focus of the workshop was to learn and experiment with new mediums, or for those already familiar with them, to use them in a different way and not to be too precious about the end results! The finer points of design, layout, composition and lettering techniques would be saved for another day.

I am always mindful of the fact that it is a scary thing for students to push boundaries in a group forum. We naturally want to be “the best” which requires that we remain within our own comfort zones. To this I say no! First and foremost, have fun – enjoy the process of experimentation. If what you are doing doesn’t work, figure out why.  For me, there is no wrong or right way, but there are “good” ways or for want of a better word “rules”. Technical competence comes when you are able to recognise and correct your own miss-takes.  Thereafter, break the rules with impunity!

Audrey - Work in Progress

 Audrey’s stretched canvas has been washed with several layers of blue acrylic paint mixed with acrylic matt medium (approx 50:50) . Each layer must be allowed to dry before applying the next coat of paint, lettering or collage item. The original intention was to collage the picture of the peacock onto the canvas, but she was persuaded  to paint it instead.

Brenda - work in progress

Brenda adds skeleton letters to her canvas, using copperplate nib and FW White Acrylic ink

Erin - work in progress

Laying down  elements onto the canvas. ATP Gel Medium was applied to the canvas as well as the back of the elements being pasted down. Once in place the top surface is wetted with medium and roller applied to the surface to push out air bubbles and to secure paper to the canvas substrait. (Pads of newspaper were inserted beneath the stretched canvas to offer a resistent surface for the roller.)

Hansa - work in progress

Soft washes of magenta, blue and ochre applied in successive layers interspersed with layers of white skeleton lettering. See top right corner where overlapping layers of letters start to push back some of the blue tones.  In the centre of the circle, Hansa applied a crumpled sheet of fine mulberry tissue (using Acrylic Medium as the glueing agent) for added textural interest.

Janine - work in progress

Janine’s fingers are white from applying dilute gesso to her work. She found some of the lettering too dominant. The letters were pushed back by applying gesso to the canvas with a wet brush. She then wiped the excess off with a soft cloth so that the underlying layers remain visible, but subtley so. Here she lays down skeleton letters using monoline nib and while acrylic ink in order to create more textural interest.

Linda - work in progress

Almost at the finished stage is this piece. Linda adds some “gold” leaf to her work.

Myrtle - work in progress

This close-up shows the technique of pulling paint off the canvas. Diluted gesso has been applied to the canvas, and before it was allowed to dry, Myrtle wrote into the wet medium with a #16 colour shaper . You could use an unloaded automatic pen, hard brush, reed pen, twig etc  for similar effect. Just make sure you wash nibs thoroughly after pulling through the wet medium.

Ria - work in progress

Ria using a heart template shape to define a border which will contain some of her text. You will see in the final picture, this idea was lost beneath successive applications of paint etc. Bottom right hand corner of the picture shows red negative pattern created by placing a piece of lace onto the canvas and rolling undiluted acrylic paint over the lace with a sponge roller. Pattern on the right hand side of the canvas was achieved with stamps.

Sue - work in progress

An intricate background consisting of layered colours and lettering. The whole giving the illusion of worn stone or distressed marble . the insert on this picture indicates what the next step will be, when Sue starts to plan the design and juggle with the final positioning prior to pasting up the four celtic images.

Sharon

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The images which follow show the end results of two days hard labour!

Audery

Brenda

Erin

Hansa

Janine

Linda

Myrtle

Ria

Sue

Sharon

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Christmas Greeting Card

This was my first attempt at weaving a tangle, but I found the shape boring, so I then hunted around for mandala templates and eventually came up with the following:

Stars

Stars II

Circles

"Tom". 750 x 900mm. Collaged images, imitation gold leaf and acrylics on stretched canvas.

Inbetween the doing of stuff which pays the bills, there was a little time to indulge in a spot of what I like to call mud-pie therapy in the latter part of 2009. There is something infinitely satisfying in being able to slosh paint, glue arb bits of  paper onto canvas then watch and wait for something to evolve from this initial chaotic approach to the  destruction of a blank substrait.

Having said that, let me say that of all the pieces herein, Tom was carefully planned, lots of thumbnails and sketches and so forth, but somewhere in the  painting and lettering process things got a little blurred……..I wanted it to be calligraphic, but it would not let me. Never have I been more dominated by a piece of work than with this one.  The result is somewhat confusing. Having spent the last 30 years with back bent at the alter of the calligraphic drawing board, I have always felt a bit traitorous when producing a piece of work without letters.

Midsummer Nights Dream. 750mm x 380mm. Mixed media on Canvas.

This poor canvas has undergone many transitions. I started this work in acrylic, but the colour blending was not going well, so I switched to oils. The transition from acrylic to oil forced me into using a brush for the lettering. I’m a new convert to brush lettering, having last winter participated in some workshops given by Carl Rohrs; I am not yet confident with this tool, so the lettering is somewhat wonky.

"Paris" 2 outer panels 200mm x 400. Centre panel 400mm x 400mm. Acrylics and collaged images on stretched canvas.

The collaged images from photographs taken in Paris. Inspired by Baudelairs cycle of poems “The Flowers of Evil”.

"Fifty" 800mm x 600mm. Acrylics and collaged elements.

This was created for my “oldest” friend. We both celebrated our 50th birthdays in 2009 and I crafted this fun ”visual diary”  as a birthday gift. The background was created with dilute layers of acrylic and white lettering prior to collaging photographs and other smaller images pertinent to our years spent together as teenagers and yound adults.

"What Keeps Mankind Alive" 450mm x 560mm. Mixed media on Canson Pastel Paper.

I pasted the foetal skeletons (originally drawn on layout paper using soluble wax crayons, as a study for another painting) onto a sheet of stretched pastel paper and then added layers of scribble writing before washing over the entire image with dilute layers of oil paint. The text, largely obscured consists of extracts taken from the Kurt Weil/Bertolt Brect song – What Keeps Mankind Alive. It’s rather spooky and I am not sure that is is “finished”.

"Shiny Things" 400mm x 600mm. Acrylics and dutch metal leaf on stretched canvas

"Harbour Sunrise" 800mm x 600mm. Acrylics on stretched canvas

Painted with reference to a photo I received via email. The colours are picture postcard bright, but I had fun doing it.

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All work can be seen here.