Thursday 25 January 2018

Hag stones - watercolour and collage



Hag stone sketch ©2017LisaLeQuelenec

Hag stones - stones with naturally occuring holes - are plentiful on the local beaches. Traditional folklore states that they are protection from witchcraft, can protect against disease and by looking through the hole you can see the fairy folk. Dorset fishermen used to tie them onto their boats for luck. I'm not so sure about that but I do find the spaces fascinating and when drawing them I am not sure if I am drawing the stone or the spaces inbetween. This little nugget was a sketch from the summer probably made in a couple of minutes and then forgotten about just as quickly. Until now....


 I started by cutting shapes from pre-painted and printed papers looking from patterns, marks and textures similar to the stones that I have collected. Then I began to play with arranging them on a plain white backing. Four little stacks resulted that are giving me lots of ideas for further work.



Four Pebble collages   approx 20x5cm mixed media   ©2018LisaLeQuelenec


7 comments:

RH Carpenter said...

I love these - such elegant shapes. I can see them much bigger = full sheet paintings? Again, they remind me of O'Keeffe's work, too. You are onto something very good here, both artistically and historically (for the mythic symbolism).

Judy said...

I picked so many of these stones from Britain's southcoast, I never knew they were called hagstones. Your watercolour is beautiful!

Debbie Nolan said...

Lisa - such lovely works - you have captured texture as well as interesting shapes. Hope you are have a super day.

Lisa Le Quelenec said...

Hi Rhonda, thank you. I feel so fired up at the moment and can see so many possibilities with this - very exciting! I quite fancy doing some large scale drawings and funnily enough relooking at what I have done so far has reminded me of the dolmens (neolithic buriel stones) in Jersey. I will get reference sketches when I next go back.


Hi Judy thank you. Have you seen any fairy folk through the stones that you picked up ;o)


Thank you Debbie. I'm really enjoying the subtle differences between each pebble. Best wishes.

Chris Lally said...

Love those gorgeous shapes and beautifully muted colors, Lisa!
The collages made me smile... Very creative.

JANE MINTER said...

the collage is charming .... lots of beautiful work here and above posts beautful designs and prints lisa

Lisa Le Quelenec said...

Hi Chris thank you.

Hello Jane, thank you. It's lovely to 'see' you. I'm really enjoying your new watercolours.