JASPER JOHNS Chapter 7

2.7.1
The library had nothing on Johns, but there was a great deal on line. Also many painting done "in the style of" by other people which was a bit confusing. Being able to upload a few and look at them closely was a great help. Oddly enough the one I chose to use for a colour guide didn't have that much white in it at all.

2.7.2
Using really thick acrylic for this exercise was a delight. Some of the time I waited for the paint to dry before putting another colour close by, but then I got braver and liked the slight smearing effect. In the end the colours didn't reflect the original very much, but I enjoyed doing it anyway.

The four letters are for my four lovely grandsons.

PRINTING CHAPTER 6

2.6.1 Printing blocks
I have a few lovely old wooden blocks in different styles as well as a set or two of acrylic letters. In addition I had already bought the alphabet set for children to play with in the bath and they have been used for that purpose quite a lot. I initially started by making just five capital letters, but then later decided I would find it really useful to have a whole set of 26 and made it up in lower case using the "American Typewriter" font. I have put them onto card, treated with button polish and put a tab on the back to make them easier to use.

2.6.2 Printing
This is the capital letters I made first of all.  Although I knew it would not be the best thing to do, I tried these out first of all without any backing card, using disposable gloves. This first page is quite neat and I liked the way the J travelled diagonally down the page, also the others.

This second page with the same letters I had the paint very slightly thinner and it all got a bit messy.

Symmetrical Effects. I didn't do this in my book, but instead folded a sheet of stitched etc newspaper. I found that in order for the letters to transfer onto the opposite page the paint had to be quite runny. But if it was too runny, then I just got a blob.  Perhaps this surface was more absorbent than my sketchbook would have been.

I knew that making lower case in this style would be a little tricky in so far as they would need a couple of drawn lines to place them correctly, but in this instance I am happy to have them tipping about and up and down a bit.

This last one is from the two different sets of letters. If it had to have a title it would have to be
'No dancing'.

I have some more sheets with the letters in different directions, but haven't scanned them, they are not that special.

RECYCLED PAPERS

2.5.1
I have been saving papers for ages now and so had a good stash to work with. I also already had wallpaper adhesive, plus wallpaper border paste which can be used straight from the tube which can be quite handy. PVA of course I use a lot. I did find with the PVA (diluted) that it wasn't tacky this time and I don't really know why, perhaps Hobbycraft is a bit different?  I also used (I don't remember where I read the suggestion) a mixture of wallpaper paste and PVA. Seemed to turn out well.

2.5.2
Making up the papers was fun, though I probably thought about the different pieces a bit too much.

I really got into the weaving papers bit, though doing it on a diagonal as well was probably a waste of time, but it was fun. It all gets covered up in the end anyway.

2.5.3
I did loads of stitched papers, remembering to use an old needle that had already been used for paper. I enjoyed the free machining particularly.

and a couple of pages of hand stitching in my sketchbook. I think using chunky threads would be very effective as well, even if hard work. Painting on top would stop any tearing later.

2.5.4
I used emulsion and also white acrylic, an inexpensive Value tube to overpaint the papers. Wasn't sure if I should also do the woven ones, but I don't see them being stable enough to print on if they are not painted first, so did some of those as well. One of the painted ones is above, got them a bit out of order after all the problems I had.

With some of the above I painted one piece fairly thickly and then pressed another unpainted one onto it. When I peeled them apart there was some nice texture (the bluish one + another.

I looked at a site about Will Ashford - that is so clever. It must take a great deal of time to do though, but it makes me want to have a go (some time)

Well the floor is now covered in dozens of pieces of paper, lots of them painted so I should have plenty to start me on the next chapter.

TAKE A LETTER

Module 2  Chapter 4

2.4.1
Having chosen my letter ie  G  I later concluded that a more chunky or rounded one would have been more satisfactory. It was taken from an old wooden type block. I bought quite a few a year ago, all in different sizes and fonts.
Letter all facing the same way and coloured with Aquarelle pencils

Letter flipped from side to side. Painted with gouach

Letter flipped from top to bottom, gouache again

Letter rotated a quarter turn. Aquarelle again, some seem softer than others and so the purple came out stronger with only the same amount of pressure.

For an extra activity I thought I would copy my second piece, turn it over and from the back slice it up into different width sections in both directions, then put it back together in a different order.

2.4.2
Rotational patterns using a letter template. This time I chose the letter  J  but as it is even skinnier than the G, it was somewhat tricky to make it look like much.

With large and small square. I'm aware that the pattern does not match up very well which is a bit irritating. I feel this would have been better done on feint graph paper?

For the circle inside the square I should have looked longer for my compass, rather than using a bowl, then trying to fit the square around it.

This final one was done with felt tip. I couldn't face doing the background in this medium and wasn't sure what colour I wanted, so I cut it out. I had then proposed to try it on several different backgrounds and photograph them, but the darn thing curled up so much I just chose the background and glued it on!

MODULE 2 DRAWING WITH GLUE

2.3.1  I thought I would take a pic of the glue writing before it dried. Done on shiny card

2.3.2 This is the first rubbing, done with wax crayon.

Also wax on music paper from book of music

On newspaper, which was much easier because it is thinner

Still using wax, done on pink cotton, "raining" on opened out teabag paper, "heart" on dry 'wet wipe'

The muslin one shown next was done with oil pastel and because the weave is so loose was a bit tricky.

Oil pastel on tissue

On ordinary copier paper, still oil pastel

2.3.3. The above (ie oil pastel)  with a wash of green and pink

This one is done with yellow and green, over wax crayon. The wax doesn't smudge as much as pastel

The following are I suppose "Extra Activity", but not quite what was asked for because it is done with a hot melt glue gun. The lettering is of course more bumpy. I should try ironing over it (with a Teflon sheet) and see if it makes it more even. It has been given a wash of acrylic ink.

Then a couple of rubbings done of above, half a sheet of two on tissue paper, then given a wash of paint.

Two more half sheets, these are the hot melt writing with Oil pastel instead. They are more indistinct than wax crayon

Next is still over the hot melt, oil pastel over newspaper and the bottom half is ditto on black tissue paper, which doesn't really work

Finally one more hot melt glue on card with paint wash.

MODULE 2 HANDWRITING

Just a couple of pics of text seen recently, The first one was taken at the local library, so they were obviously doing something with text and the second was on a box of chocolates in the supermarket. No I didn't feel the need to buy the chocs.

MODULE 2 HANDWRITING

2.2.1
As you can see, I love using this soft Gel marker.

I wasn't really sure what I was doing here. The bottom bit with writing in two directions is more interesting than that above

When doing this next page I unintentionally got a bit ahead of myself and subconsciously used some bits of Zentangles

There are actually three lots of writing in different crayons on this page, but I obviously didn't press hard enough with the lighter ones. They are written in different directions

However this time, I pressed harder and am pleased with the page, especially the pink and purple colours
on green

What a horrid page this one is. Although I again pressed hard, the wash of black dilute acrylic paint swamped it and I ended up blotting some of it off as there was no sign of it 'coming through'

I'm singing the next bit  "...and it's getting better every daaaaay" etc. I love Zentangles and for about 9 months I used to do a bit most mornings at breakfast time in a little 4" x 4" book. this however was done with a much bigger Sharpie marker which is a revelation and means it can obviously be done on a much larger scale.

Oh this was great fun too.  Are we going back to the sixties I wonder. Done in gouache, mostly blue and yellow with a little bit of purple to give a bit of a lift, but it looks rather brown.

Writing in circles - yes I like this it is very effective. Words taken from a Bruce Chatwin book and done inMarvy le Plum 11 with paintbrush end and fine end

The spacing on this page of names is not quite close enough I  think which results in some rather large patches. Still overall effect is quite pleasing. Painted with gouache. Perhaps I should have restricted the colours a bit more but hoped that as they are pastel is isn't all too much.

I made sure to do the spacing closer this time. I used acrylic ink which I haven't tried before and applied it with the dropper that comes with the bottle. Unfortunately it got splodged before it was completely dry but I like the differences in the density of the ink.

I decided against doing any extras after I had loaded this lot and realised that I had already spent quite a lot of time on it.  I will do some more writing around shapes sometime soon though, just for fun.  Altogether a most satisfying chapter.