John and I had a fun day in the studio recently. We both wanted to do a bit of experimental mark-making, to explore new ideas. John is looking for inspiration for his printmaking and I thought it would be interesting to play with marks and compositions which could be the starting points of new drawings or which might possible translate into textiles. We gathered lots of tools and then made a few new ones, looking for anything which would make an unusual mark if dipped in paint: We decided to stick to black and white, so we could concentrate on marks and tone. I mixed up a tub of black acrylic and got out some Platignum Calligraphers Black Ink too (a good non-waterproof ink, as it separates into pretty colours when wet, rather than just going grey). I found an oil bar and some liquin too, which is great for smearing not just oil bars but also oil pastels. Plus a Derwent Inktense block and grater (tiny gratings can be scattered onto wet paper or sprayed with water for speckled effects). We both put on latex gloves and set-to on a big piece of cartridge paper each. It was such fun - no pressure to make something which 'works', just pure experimentation. This was my first sheet: I am particularly interested in randomness, so many of the new tools we made were designed to make the marks more hard to control. To add to the random element, we both cut up our sheets into equal pieces, using pre-decided measurements, not aesthetic judgement to create the sections: I like the way it changes things when you isolate a section. The emphasis on the various elements changes, because of the enforced edges, and you start to get interesting things happening with composition. On my 2nd sheet, I started with some large marks in a grey emulsion, to create a new element of contrast. I made a new tool too - a piece of corrugated card to print with. You can see the marks top right: I cut this one into squares. As the paper's dimensions didn't divide exactly into squares, this allowed me a slight element of judgement, as I could move the composition of any square a centimetre or two to the left or right. I then selected the best 6 squares from the 9 created. These are my favourites. It's surprising how well they work just as they are, but you can also see how they could be taken into print or textiles. It would be fun trying to find ways to reinterpret the marks and tones in the different medium. I can highly recommend this as a very enjoyable way of exploring new techniques and getting new inspiration. The randomness is important though, as a way of forcing you not to be too controlling and letting unexpected things happen. John did some experiments using blotting paper, which he tore into strips. Even the offcuts were interesting, which I saved as we were clearing up. The beautiful blue is the Platignum ink: Even my offcuts were quite interesting: Have a go. Even before we got drawing, it was good fun making the tools from odds and ends we found around the studio, taping them to bits of stick and then finding out what marks they made.
If you are stuck with how to add tone to your artwork, pay reference to the mark making sheet attached. There are a number of ways to add tone – you don’t always have to use the side o…
At the beginning of my first art class in high school, the teacher said if we put in the effort we would get an A, no matter what the art looked like. He lied. My straight-A student heart was crushed when I got a B. The only B in my entire high school career—yes, I’m a first-born. My confidence tank
2020 Topic 5: Mark Making Hi everyone, Keren here with a topic that's nearly as intriguing as it is simple. From the moment we first held a crayon or paintbrush, we have been making marks. As children we were instinctive and free and as we develop, it seems that mark making becomes more complex and we hesitate often, trying to make the 'perfectly correct' line, dot or dash. When we think about it at its simplest level, it's certainly something that we can all attempt. I suspect that freedom to make marks with spontaneity rather than over-thought might make for more joyous pieces of art. From early cave-drawings to sprawling graffiti, mark making is not devoid of expression or emotion. Boiled down to its essence, a singular mark may not tell much ( although some artists would beg to differ), but the mark has been described as the 'language' of the artist (Lynette Ubel) and can distinguish a piece of art as belonging to us. When I consider mark makers from the PaperArtsy family, my thoughts immediately wander to Seth Apter, who is well known for his marks and delicious layering of paint and colour. This photo is actually of one particular stage in the process but you can see the marks so clearly, I thought it was a great introductory visual. Those of you who know the PaperArtsy family of designers well, will know that many of the designers give a solid nod to mark-making among their stamp designs. PaperArtsy Blog One of the first decisions you'll have to make involves how you're going to create the marks. There are many ways of crafting your own 'brushes'. Here's a few handmade ones. Art Propelled You could create this tool using an item normally purposed for cleaning.. Elizabeth Schowachert Art Or this collection of 'brushes' Paintdrops Keep Falling Once your implement is chosen. What substrate do you use? Are you making marks using quicker movement or some intentional gauging? Rapid short strokes or long gentle swathes of ink? I love this piece by Jacqui Fehl. There is real life in her strokes. So many examples of mark making are often in black and white, so this vivacious piece is a treat. Jacqui Fehl Instinctive mark making can produce freer responses. This artist closed her eyes and using one hand to feel for the edge of the paper, moved her body slowly down the wall, allowing the motion to guide her marks. Jane Grisewood Moving back to implements, I thought this technique of using a leftover mascara wand is a good option for the environment. We'll be stockpiling all sorts of objects now! Rae Missigman Calligraphers make careful marks, often bound by rigid proportional rules. This example shows a freer side to letter creating and using pen and ink can produce angular marks. Barbara Close Often the marks will be the focus of the piece, but this clever design uses marks to define areas and bring shading. Look closely! Inna Heller It's easy to think of marks as short collections of lines or dots. Mark making can involve fluid motions that result in spectacular dynamic pieces. Anna Sheffield Heading back to the PaperArtsy blog, Emma Godfrey has lots of stamps with mark making in mind. This piece of hers combines lots of different mark making techniques. PaperArtsy Blog Combining different concentrations of colour and direction makes for exciting marks. I love this piece. I Am Japanese This art journal is a great example of different types of marks. The splatters, brush marks, pen work, random painted edges and more. Saadia Nawaz Changing medium completely, there's a technique in ceramics called Sgrafito that involves scraping lines into clay. This artist has also built up part of the clay after making the marks. Eunice Botes More gauging, but this time into lino. Such beautiful lines and great contrast. Viola Dardar Mark making on fabric can come in different forms. This piece shows making marks through spraying over elements (washers), and using different fibres and stitches. Varying the width and type of fibres results in beautiful soft marks. Cheryl Lennox If we can use any substrate, what about the human body? Etching marks into skin with ink is the essence of tattooing. Not all tattoos could be described as beautiful marks but this example is an unique style. chenje.newtattoo We can't forget about gel plates in this mark making topic. Gel plates afford so many ways to make our mark. Whether it's through stencils, texture transfer, marking the paint, adding objects or stamping, this is a versatile technique. Lynn Bailey This next piece shows a gel plate print using really effective scratching into the plate. Jane Davies This next example is one of my favourites. A lively stitched piece using so many marks to build up texture. It reminded me of book binding stitching too. Stuart Shils I hope there is plenty here to get you making marks along with us. They can be simple or complex, tentative or confident, but the main thing is to explore how you express yourself in ink, paint, pottery, fabric or more! If you want to create along with us, please share on our social feeds so we can see what you get up to. The best places are Instagram @paperartsy or post in PaperArtsy People Group on Facebook. Make sure you tag us in your contributions, we love to see what you get up to in your creative world!
I want to share with you a few images of mark-making tools people have made in my Mark Making class. I love seeing what people come up with!...
As a child, like most children I drew constantly, mostly from my imagination. My father ran a shop and I would be placed on a high stool in the corner with a pile of newsprint and crayons. My mother worked as a secretary for my uncle, an architect in Holborn. During the holidays I would […]
Innovative creativity from PaperArtsy. Paint, stencils, and techniques galore for any mixed media enthusiast to enjoy.
Hi there, Susanne here! I’m sharing a mixed media collage in one of my mini spiral bound art journals that I use to create quick collages. I usually use left over papers on these spreads. For…
There’s a lot around the house that students can experiment with and incorporate into art projects. Here are some of our favorites. Paint materials • Drawing tools • 3D • Collage Paint materials Flower PetalsMost colored flower petals can be rubbed into paper to make lovely patches of color. TurmericMix turmeric with a bit of water and […]
There are a large variety of different lino cutting tools with different shapes and sizes. The most common lino tools are V Tools and U Tools. U Tools carve softer lines with a curved end point and an even width but it can be harder to get control over the placement of your edges. V …
Mixed media on paper, 2011.
Part 9 in my series of how a lifelong passion for arts and crafts became multiple successful businesses.
Contemporary Drawing Practices ART 304
That’s the name of the online art course I’m currently doing. Its actually ‘Perfectly Imperfect: Discovering Your Visual Language‘ run by the brilliant Lorna Crane, and so far it has been great! If you need a distraction from all the doom and gloom this course is just the thing. Not only do you get videos […]
Shanghai artist "Red" Hong Yi, enjoys finding all sorts of interesting ways to draw…without any traditional drawing utensils. She previously created a portrait of NBA icon Yao Ming by bouncing a…
Visit the post for more.
2016 Topic 17: Making Marks Heather Hansen Well hello everyone, Darcy here with our latest topic. This one is a very broad subject, and the title alone may baffle you, but I shall attempt to clarify and give you lots of inspiration in this post. Mark making is a term used when we want to describe lines and patterns, also textures ,if they overlap. Marks can be made with any tool, any medium and on any surface. these marks can be dots, dashes, spirals, scribbles, even scratches. They can be definite and controlled or they can be loose and wild, either way marks are expressive and can convey many emotions. Sometimes these marks can represent something real, and therefore must conform to various rules regarding shape and proportion etc. Other pieces of art are totally abstract and fully intuitive. Frank Auerbach Before we start, let's see who won the Topic 16 : Beads,Charms,Dangles Challenge... Winner of Beads, Charms and Dangles is Bryan from GeezerCrafter Email Darcy to claim your prize. [email protected] So let's dive in, what is mark making, and what is the point? It is a way to open the mind to alternative ways of making art. Not everything has to be a finely tuned and thought out image. Look at the way that children create, they scribble for all their worth and they are so proud of what they create. Only as adults do we become overly concerned with how others see our creations. Children communicate through drawing before they can speak, it makes their thoughts visible. As well as developing fine motor skills. Wouldn't it be good if we could allow ourselves that freedom to be so expressive: to let our fingers take control and enable the character of a piece to develop. Stephen Lursen In the modern era we have all kinds of pencils and paintbrushes, but often just holding these can induce panic and worry over making even the first mark on a page. These tools are somehow deemed to be the tools of professionals, they cause us to freeze up and questions our abilities. Therefore mark making exercises encourage us to use different tools. Ones that give us more freedom. Try using twigs instead of pencils, or leaves,feathers,berries,flowers. Use your fingers.. use mud instead of paint. Draw on the path with chalk or squished berries. Go to the beach and draw in the sand. Try blind mark making, close your eyes: first explore the surface with your hands, is it smooth, is it rough, how does it make you feel. What can you hear or smell, is the sun warming your face or do you feel a breeze. All these things come to us more clearly when we close our eyes and shut off that visual sense. Now translate how you feel to the surface, make your marks accordingly. Express yourself, your emotions. Focus on the marks and noting else, don't try to create, just make marks. Lesley McInally There are so many tools you can use or make , let's look at some that you might have fun playing with. Of course you can still use pencils, but why just use one? South Wales Uni This has to be one of my favourite photos for this topic, any of you with children or grandchildren must try this out. I am tempted to rummage in the attic for old toys. Clare If you are lucky enough to have trees or bushes nearby, now is the time to start collecting fallen twigs. As we move into Autumn there will all sorts of twigs, leaves, seed pods that you can utilise, as well as feathers grasses and even your own hair. next time you have a haircut remember to save the trimmings. Catherine White This is a cool and very simple tool, a shoelace wrapped around a paintbrush or stick/skewer. You can do the same with elastic bands or string/yarn. Just look at the fabulous splats made by this dried flower head. , this one made me squeal a little, I love it. There are so many items just laying around that you could use, why not fill a bag or small box with found 'mark making tools' I have one, and the contents are varied; sticks, skewers, bits of fabric, mesh, pen lids, glue stick lids, bits of plastic, mesh bag from oranges, screws and natural sponges. So now we know how to loosen up, and we have our home made tools.. or whatever you choose to use, where do we make these marks ? As I said earlier you can go outside, make use of natures canvas, or you can grab a journal and turn that into your mark making place. Elisabeth Couloigner Within art there are of course general marks, but also texture can be created with marks, the most obvious one is hatching and cross hatching. There is also the technique of pointillism, where small dots of colour are used to create an image. Dots are one of the most basic marks, why not have a go at making something just using dots! I found this fun photo, a different approach to making dots, as this piece requires holes to be made into the substrate. As the holes are made from the back the paper is forced upwards, creating not just the hole/dot but also texture. Amparo Sard How else can these marks be translated into art? how are the thousands of mark making sketchbooks across the world even remotely useful? You might think them pointless scribbles, but in fact many designers use mark making as a very important resource when designing fabric for example. Not only does the act of mark making loosen up the creative juices the results of mark making can themselves be developed in many art forms. Look at these mark making experiments, all torn up into strips and arranged with other marks. This could easily be developed into fabric. Or you could use it as it is, perhaps glue to a canvas, what do you see in the marks? I think a landscape piece could evolve from these. Here you can see that marks have been cleaned up, filtered, simplified and turned into fabric. Laura Slater Mark making does not need to be restricted to working on paper or canvas, use any substrate, chisel your marks into wood, sculpt into clay or take your needle and thread to fabric. Pottery can be a fabulous substrate for mark making. Pracilla Mouritzen You can of course bring mark making into journalling and cardmaking. How? well either by making the marks yourself or utilising the many background stamps and stencils that are available. The start of this journal page is a perfect example of a really nice composition of mark making. Gorgeous colour blending really shows off the bolder marks, but look beyond the black marks, there are other marks within the layers. Dorine Sengers This card too uses mark making to fantastic effect underneath the focal images. Now I am not encouraging you to dip your hair into paint, but there are other fun ideas in this video. Perhaps encourage your children or grandchildren to make the marks, let them do the messy bit and then you use the paper in your project? that would be a fun collaboration. How else can you discover your own unique marks? The easiest way is to write your signature over and over, starting out normal and considered and letting your hand loosen up till the letters evolve. Cover the whole page, keep going until you can no longer recognise the letters. This is your totally unique set of marks. You can also make art with your fingerprints, remember no two sets of prints are alike, this would be your mark and nobody elses. I just love this collection of marks, you could easily replicate this in a patchwork way by taking small squares of your mark making and arranging them onto a canvas. Sophie Munn The emphasis over the next 2 weeks is to experiment, get messy and have fun. Let go of the worry that you must make something perfect, and in doing so you just might make the best thing ever. Don't forget to follow Darcy and Leandra's Pinterest boards if this topic pushes your buttons, you will see plenty more examples to whet your appetite there! I am really looking forward to seeing what you create over the next 2 weeks! Darcy Topic 17: Making Marks PaperArtsy Blog Challenge We'd love you to share your ideas and link up your creative response to our current blog topic. Take a minute to read the challenge guidelines below. All links go in the draw to win a voucher to spend on products of your choice from the PaperArtsy online store. The Making Marks link will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, Sept 18th, winner will be announced 2 hours later at 19:00. 1. The challenge is a for you to show how you are inspired by the current blog topic. Your entry should contain: - a mention of which post inspired you and why, and - a link in your blog post to that original post on the PA blog. The whole concept of this challenge is 'play along with us'. You are encouraged to put your own twist on ideas you see on our blog, do your own thing - whatever grabs you! 2. The link you put on our linky page must lead directly to the specific post on your blog where you have explored the technique/ idea mentioned in point 1 above. Don't link to the home page of your blog. 3. We prefer your challenge blog post is created exclusive to our challenge, but if our topic fits perfectly with another challenge, then you may link to both if appropriate. 4. You are most welcome to use stamps/ products/ substrates you have to hand from a variety of companies, we do not expect you to exclusively use PA products - it's lovely when you do though! 6. You can enter as many times as you like. We don't want to restrict your creativity! NB. Link closes at 17:00 Sunday Sept 18th (London Time) 7. The winner of the random draw will receive a £50 credit voucher to be redeemed on the PaperArtsy Website. The credit voucher includes VAT and postage. We request that one of your purchases is an A5 rubber stamp. You can add any other items to your basket, but the final total should not exceed £50. 8. Each fortnight on Sunday, the winner will be announced at 19:00 (London time). In the same post, the link for the next fortnight will be posted. 9. It's your responsibility to claim your prize coupon from Darcy. email: [email protected] Good Luck! If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask!
2016 Topic 17: Making Marks Heather Hansen Well hello everyone, Darcy here with our latest topic. This one is a very broad subject, and the title alone may baffle you, but I shall attempt to clarify and give you lots of inspiration in this post. Mark making is a term used when we want to describe lines and patterns, also textures ,if they overlap. Marks can be made with any tool, any medium and on any surface. these marks can be dots, dashes, spirals, scribbles, even scratches. They can be definite and controlled or they can be loose and wild, either way marks are expressive and can convey many emotions. Sometimes these marks can represent something real, and therefore must conform to various rules regarding shape and proportion etc. Other pieces of art are totally abstract and fully intuitive. Frank Auerbach Before we start, let's see who won the Topic 16 : Beads,Charms,Dangles Challenge... Winner of Beads, Charms and Dangles is Bryan from GeezerCrafter Email Darcy to claim your prize. [email protected] So let's dive in, what is mark making, and what is the point? It is a way to open the mind to alternative ways of making art. Not everything has to be a finely tuned and thought out image. Look at the way that children create, they scribble for all their worth and they are so proud of what they create. Only as adults do we become overly concerned with how others see our creations. Children communicate through drawing before they can speak, it makes their thoughts visible. As well as developing fine motor skills. Wouldn't it be good if we could allow ourselves that freedom to be so expressive: to let our fingers take control and enable the character of a piece to develop. Stephen Lursen In the modern era we have all kinds of pencils and paintbrushes, but often just holding these can induce panic and worry over making even the first mark on a page. These tools are somehow deemed to be the tools of professionals, they cause us to freeze up and questions our abilities. Therefore mark making exercises encourage us to use different tools. Ones that give us more freedom. Try using twigs instead of pencils, or leaves,feathers,berries,flowers. Use your fingers.. use mud instead of paint. Draw on the path with chalk or squished berries. Go to the beach and draw in the sand. Try blind mark making, close your eyes: first explore the surface with your hands, is it smooth, is it rough, how does it make you feel. What can you hear or smell, is the sun warming your face or do you feel a breeze. All these things come to us more clearly when we close our eyes and shut off that visual sense. Now translate how you feel to the surface, make your marks accordingly. Express yourself, your emotions. Focus on the marks and noting else, don't try to create, just make marks. Lesley McInally There are so many tools you can use or make , let's look at some that you might have fun playing with. Of course you can still use pencils, but why just use one? South Wales Uni This has to be one of my favourite photos for this topic, any of you with children or grandchildren must try this out. I am tempted to rummage in the attic for old toys. Clare If you are lucky enough to have trees or bushes nearby, now is the time to start collecting fallen twigs. As we move into Autumn there will all sorts of twigs, leaves, seed pods that you can utilise, as well as feathers grasses and even your own hair. next time you have a haircut remember to save the trimmings. Catherine White This is a cool and very simple tool, a shoelace wrapped around a paintbrush or stick/skewer. You can do the same with elastic bands or string/yarn. Just look at the fabulous splats made by this dried flower head. , this one made me squeal a little, I love it. There are so many items just laying around that you could use, why not fill a bag or small box with found 'mark making tools' I have one, and the contents are varied; sticks, skewers, bits of fabric, mesh, pen lids, glue stick lids, bits of plastic, mesh bag from oranges, screws and natural sponges. So now we know how to loosen up, and we have our home made tools.. or whatever you choose to use, where do we make these marks ? As I said earlier you can go outside, make use of natures canvas, or you can grab a journal and turn that into your mark making place. Elisabeth Couloigner Within art there are of course general marks, but also texture can be created with marks, the most obvious one is hatching and cross hatching. There is also the technique of pointillism, where small dots of colour are used to create an image. Dots are one of the most basic marks, why not have a go at making something just using dots! I found this fun photo, a different approach to making dots, as this piece requires holes to be made into the substrate. As the holes are made from the back the paper is forced upwards, creating not just the hole/dot but also texture. Amparo Sard How else can these marks be translated into art? how are the thousands of mark making sketchbooks across the world even remotely useful? You might think them pointless scribbles, but in fact many designers use mark making as a very important resource when designing fabric for example. Not only does the act of mark making loosen up the creative juices the results of mark making can themselves be developed in many art forms. Look at these mark making experiments, all torn up into strips and arranged with other marks. This could easily be developed into fabric. Or you could use it as it is, perhaps glue to a canvas, what do you see in the marks? I think a landscape piece could evolve from these. Here you can see that marks have been cleaned up, filtered, simplified and turned into fabric. Laura Slater Mark making does not need to be restricted to working on paper or canvas, use any substrate, chisel your marks into wood, sculpt into clay or take your needle and thread to fabric. Pottery can be a fabulous substrate for mark making. Pracilla Mouritzen You can of course bring mark making into journalling and cardmaking. How? well either by making the marks yourself or utilising the many background stamps and stencils that are available. The start of this journal page is a perfect example of a really nice composition of mark making. Gorgeous colour blending really shows off the bolder marks, but look beyond the black marks, there are other marks within the layers. Dorine Sengers This card too uses mark making to fantastic effect underneath the focal images. Now I am not encouraging you to dip your hair into paint, but there are other fun ideas in this video. Perhaps encourage your children or grandchildren to make the marks, let them do the messy bit and then you use the paper in your project? that would be a fun collaboration. How else can you discover your own unique marks? The easiest way is to write your signature over and over, starting out normal and considered and letting your hand loosen up till the letters evolve. Cover the whole page, keep going until you can no longer recognise the letters. This is your totally unique set of marks. You can also make art with your fingerprints, remember no two sets of prints are alike, this would be your mark and nobody elses. I just love this collection of marks, you could easily replicate this in a patchwork way by taking small squares of your mark making and arranging them onto a canvas. Sophie Munn The emphasis over the next 2 weeks is to experiment, get messy and have fun. Let go of the worry that you must make something perfect, and in doing so you just might make the best thing ever. Don't forget to follow Darcy and Leandra's Pinterest boards if this topic pushes your buttons, you will see plenty more examples to whet your appetite there! I am really looking forward to seeing what you create over the next 2 weeks! Darcy Topic 17: Making Marks PaperArtsy Blog Challenge We'd love you to share your ideas and link up your creative response to our current blog topic. Take a minute to read the challenge guidelines below. All links go in the draw to win a voucher to spend on products of your choice from the PaperArtsy online store. The Making Marks link will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, Sept 18th, winner will be announced 2 hours later at 19:00. 1. The challenge is a for you to show how you are inspired by the current blog topic. Your entry should contain: - a mention of which post inspired you and why, and - a link in your blog post to that original post on the PA blog. The whole concept of this challenge is 'play along with us'. You are encouraged to put your own twist on ideas you see on our blog, do your own thing - whatever grabs you! 2. The link you put on our linky page must lead directly to the specific post on your blog where you have explored the technique/ idea mentioned in point 1 above. Don't link to the home page of your blog. 3. We prefer your challenge blog post is created exclusive to our challenge, but if our topic fits perfectly with another challenge, then you may link to both if appropriate. 4. You are most welcome to use stamps/ products/ substrates you have to hand from a variety of companies, we do not expect you to exclusively use PA products - it's lovely when you do though! 6. You can enter as many times as you like. We don't want to restrict your creativity! NB. Link closes at 17:00 Sunday Sept 18th (London Time) 7. The winner of the random draw will receive a £50 credit voucher to be redeemed on the PaperArtsy Website. The credit voucher includes VAT and postage. We request that one of your purchases is an A5 rubber stamp. You can add any other items to your basket, but the final total should not exceed £50. 8. Each fortnight on Sunday, the winner will be announced at 19:00 (London time). In the same post, the link for the next fortnight will be posted. 9. It's your responsibility to claim your prize coupon from Darcy. email: [email protected] Good Luck! If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask!
There’s a lot around the house that students can experiment with and incorporate into art projects. Here are some of our favorites. Paint materials • Drawing tools • 3D • Collage Paint materials Flower PetalsMost colored flower petals can be rubbed into paper to make lovely patches of color. TurmericMix turmeric with a bit of water and […]
Over the past few months I've been experimenting with different ways of making marks on cloth. While I love the linear marks I have been producing with shibori and other techniques, I don't want to just keep repeating myself. So I've been shaking things up. I
Vanessa Arbuthnott’s latest collection, her fifteenth, is called the Artists’ Collection. As Vanessa explains: “This collection is a collaborative family effort; I had a fall, which left me with two broken arms and made it impossible to hold a pencil! I nonetheless worked with my husband Nicholas
workman: “ vjeranski: conversation with stars shane drinkwater ”
Explore Kyra Bermejo - 1055245129's 20 photos on Flickr!