Mark making
Gary Oak trees in the churchyard at St. Peters Church, Duncan, BC.
About 8 cups of hulls to the same amount of water and let boil. Add in one large old rusty chain, rusty saw blade (at the bottom).and some rusted parts. The iron oxide has a reaction with the acorn liquid and turns it from a similar warm walnut brown colour to a beautiful silver-grey colour. The recipe is from the book ‘Making Ink” by Jason Logan.
Examples of the acorn ink colour - a beautiful silvery grey-black.
All workshops can be taken for credit towards one of VISA'S PROGRAMS (Certificate or Diploma).
Unless noted, all workshops have materials included and are suitable for beginners.
This workshop will introduce you to ways of creating texture in drawings and paintings using acrylic pastes and grounds. Light molding paste, fibre paste, absorbent ground, gesso, fine pumice and acrylic ground for pastels will be explored. You will learn a variety of techniques including resists, rubbing, lifting, scraping, incising, veiling and burnishing. You will work on watercolour paper, cradled panel and stretched canvas. The workshop includes demonstrations and hands-on practice and will provide you with endless ideas and approaches for drawing and painting projects. The workshop is suitable for all levels of experience. Material fee covers specialty materials and surfaces.
Jul 1 - 3 Friday - Sunday, 10am - 5pm
Jill Ehlert
Tuition: $295.00 (18 hrs) Material Fee: $25 (materials included)
This daylong workshop consists of a series of fast-paced exercises to get you comfortable with working in your sketchbook. A wide range of ideas, materials and techniques will be explored. Backgrounds, mark-making explorations, sketching, drawing and writing will also be covered. You will leave this workshop inspired to make your sketchbook a part of your daily practice. No experience necessary. All materials are provided, including a sketchbook and pens for you to take home with you. No experience necessary.
Jul 17 Sunday, 10am - 5pm
Jill Ehlert
Tuition: $150.00 (6 hrs) (materials included)
Image Page
In this workshop, you will create a personal visual language of marks and textures, beginning with making marks with a traditional dip pen with a variety of nibs using India and walnut ink. You will learn ways to hold the pen as well as how to control movement, speed, pressure and spacing. You will build on your vocabulary by making your own unconventional tools, beginning with a "Cola" pen, a handmade dip pen/nib, and then you will transform found objects into drawing tools that you will use with ink. "Found" tools will include sticks, twigs, cotton swabs, fingers, toothpicks, dried plant material, bamboo skewers, string, seedpods, feathers and wire. Surfaces to work on will include: Mylar, Stonehenge, tracing and rice paper. The workshop includes demonstrations and hands-on practice.
Jul 29 - 31 Friday - Sunday, 10am - 5pm
Jill Ehlert
Tuition: $295.00 (18 hrs) (materials included)
The focus of this workshop is on making a variety of surfaces that can be used for drawings or paintings, or as works of art on their own. You will learn how to create backgrounds using a variety of mixed-media techniques with resists, washes, gesso veils, ink runs, rust printing, stamping, folding, crumpling, rubbing, burning and waxing. You will use new and found surfaces to work on, such as Mylar, Yupo, watercolour, printmaking, rice, and tracing papers. The workshop includes demonstrations and hands-on practice. This workshop will give you a compilation of ideas and approaches to use in drawing, painting or collage work. All materials are included but you are encouraged to bring an assortment of surfaces to work on, such as cardboard, book pages, commercial papers, plastic and newspaper.
Aug 12 - 14 Friday - Sunday, 10am - 5pm
Jill Ehlert
Tuition: $295.00 (18 hrs) (materials included)
Click on image to see large view
I will be teaching Creating Marks Through Actions at the Vancouver Island School of Art in Victoria, BC. This workshop focuses on unconventional ways of creating marks on paper using traditional tools such as pen, ink and graphite, as well as more unconventional ones such as an awl, smoke, needle, thread, hammer and nail. A range of movements and actions such as puncturing, smoking, burning, rubbing, cutting and sewing will be explored as drawing gestures for mark making.
Jill Ehlert © 2016 Smoke Drawing
All samples below are by Jill Ehlert © Click on thumbnails below to see large images in slideshow.
I will be teaching this one-day workshop at the Vancouver Island School of Art [VISA] located in Victoria, BC Canada.
Sketchbook Development gives a series of fast-paced exercises to get you comfortable and working in your sketchbook. A wide range of ideas, materials and techniques will be explored in your sketchbook. Backgrounds, mark making explorations, sketching, drawing and writing will also be covered. You will leave this workshop inspired to make sketchbook work part of a daily practice. No experience necessary. Book through VISA.
Sunday March 20, 2016 10am - 5pm
Click on first thumbnail below to view larger images in a slideshow.
I will be teaching "Creating Marks Through Actions" at the Vancouver Island School of Art
Oct 3 & 4 Sat & Sun, 10am - 5pm All supplies are included.
This two-day workshop focuses on unconventional ways of creating marks. The first day involves creating a collection of marks on paper using traditional tools including pen, ink and graphite, as well as more unconventional ones such as an awl, smoke, needle, thread, hammer and nail. A range of movements and actions will be explored: puncturing, smoking, burning, rubbing, cutting and sewing, etc. You will make a book and a collage from mark-making explorations on the second day. Design and composition will be covered along with a demonstration on different methods of adhering collage materials. This workshop is ideal for those looking to expand their mark-making vocabulary and create unique surfaces with inventive marks. No experience necessary.
There are still a few spaces left. Call 250.380.3500 to register.
Examples of some of the processes we will be working with.
I will be teaching this 2-Day Drawing workshop at the Vancouver Island School of Art
These images are examples of some of the actions we will be exploring. Staining, drawing, cutting, piercing, burning, smoking, folding, crumpling, impressing, rubbing, embossing, sewing, binding...
I am pleased to announce that I will be teaching the following three workshops at the Vancouver Island School of Art [VISA]
All of the links below will take you directly to the website for the Vancouver Island School of Art.
VANCOUVER ISLAND SCHOOL OF ART
The Vancouver Island School of Art is a learning community dedicated to the advancement of art education through comprehensive programs and presentations for adults of all ages. The focus of the courses and workshops offered by the school is on technique, personal expression and contemporary context.
This two-day workshop focuses on unconventional ways of creating marks. The first day involves creating a collection of marks on paper using traditional tools including pen, ink and graphite, as well as more unconventional ones such as an awl, smoke, needle, thread, hammer and nail. A range of movements and actions will be explored: puncturing, smoking, burning, rubbing, cutting and sewing, etc. You will make a book and a collage from mark-making explorations on the second day. Design and composition will be covered along with a demonstration on different methods of adhering collage materials. This workshop is ideal for those looking to expand their mark-making vocabulary and create unique surfaces with inventive marks. No experience necessary.
Oct 3 & 4 Sat & Sun, 10am - 5pm
Jill Ehlert
Tuition: $235.00 (12 hrs) (materials included)
ACTIONS: Fumage [Smoking] , Drawing, Erasing, Punching, Puncturing,Piercing, Staining, Burning, Scorching, Folding, Cutting, Ripping, Stitching, Crumpling, Layering, Frottage [Rubbing] TOOLS: Candle smoke, Pen, Brush and Ink, Pencil, Eraser, Hammer and Nail, Push Pins, Punch, Tea and Coffee Stain, Incense, Blades, Needle and Thread...
All artwork below is by Jill Ehlert
The focus of this class is to give a series of fast paced exercises to get you comfortable and working in your sketchbook. A wide range of ideas, materials and techniques will be explored in your sketchbook to get you started; they are designed to keep you going back to your sketchbook. Backgrounds, techniques, mark making explorations, sketching, drawing, writing, etc. will be explored. You will leave this workshop inspired to make sketchbook work part of a daily practice. No experience necessary.
Nov 8 Sunday, 10am - 5pm
Jill Ehlert
Tuition: $135.00 (6 hrs) (materials included)
All artwork below is by Jill Ehlert
This workshop concentrates on ways of looking and working. You will take a walk in the VISA garden and collect objects with lines, texture, pattern and shapes. Back in the classroom, you will study these sources of inspiration to extract information and interpret what you see through mark making. The focus of this workshop is to explore new ways to respond to your “collections” and to discover their essences rather than a direct representation. There will be an exploration into materials, techniques and mark making through sketching, drawing, painting, ink washes, stitching, mono printing, and stamping. A variety of surfaces will be provided: BFK, Stonehenge, Kraft, tracing paper, newspapers, tissue paper, etc. This workshop will provide a great way to get new ideas for drawing, painting and other forms of design. No experience necessary.
Nov 21 & 22 Sat & Sun, 10am - 5pm
Jill Ehlert
Tuition: $235.00 (12 hrs) (materials included
All artwork below is by Jill Ehlert
11" x 7.5" each India ink, graphite, gesso
You never know where you will find inspiration for making marks.
Step 1. I was pouring ink onto a sheet of Stonehenge paper, which I was holding over top of this piece of newsprint - this is what is left over after my pour. I found the marks spontaneous and interesting.
Step 2. Inspired from the newspaper piece I drew marks on a new sheet of Stonehenge paper with a Stabilo Woody 3 in 1 Pencil.
"This chunky pencil functions as a coloured pencil, watercolour, and wax crayon all in one, it is perfect for a variety of techniques, and for those with endless imagination."
Given that the Woody pencil is water soluble, once I drew with it, I used a brush dipped in water to wet areas touching the border of each shape, this way it created a halo-like effect around the mark, mimicking what I saw on the newsprint.
Step 3. I laid a piece of tracing paper on top of the Stonehenge paper from Step 2 and traced the marks that I had drawn, again with the Woody and wet the areas liken Step 2.
This final piece shows the tracing sitting over top of the piece that I had originally been pouring ink onto that had created the inks spots on the newsprint.
Using a white Sharpie Peel-Off China Marker as a resist tool. This is working really well with washes of Daniel Smith Quinacridone Gold watercolour and M. Graham Artist Black Gouache. I tried washes of India ink but found it was too intense and covered the white, even with it diluted the India Ink made things grey or obscured the white lines completely. I could use an intense black wash of the gouache with great success.
I also experimented with a white oil pastel stick which yielded great results with the watercolour and gouache. The nice thing about the China marker is that the tip can be sharpened, giving a finer line if that is desired compared to the more chubby oil pastel.
Both the China marker and the pastel stick can go on top of the dried watercolour and gouache with more washes of colour applied on top...so it has a nice "go back and forth" process to it.
As well I used graphite in a stick form and found it also resists the watercolour and gouache.
I spent the entire day in the studio today experimenting with the wax resist process. I used "Susan Scheewe Wax Resist Sticks" that are a clear wax crayon. I purchased these a few years ago at Michaels. I also used a product by "Sennelier oil pastel" called a transparent medium, also in stick form. As well I used a candle, which yields good results.
I had to exert quite a bit of pressure with the clear wax crayon so that once I put an ink wash on top it would stand out -- otherwise it was too weak of a contrast and hard to see. I had excellent results with the "Sennelier" transparent stick. The downfall with it this product is that it is quite soft and leaves little chunks behind, which can be quite messy. So you have to be mindful to clean up immediately. I could mash this a bit into my finger tips and then impress my finger pads onto the paper to create different marks. I tried cheap oil pastels in colour but found the ink would cover it up or be absorbed into it.
In the early stages of my experimentation this morning I started out with a cheap student grade India Ink. This is the type that comes in a huge bottle, it is not waterproof nor does it ever get black black. I quickly discovered this and switched to my Winsor & Newton Black Indian Ink, this product is water proof and yields a deep dark black. I found it made a world of difference using the quality brand.
I sometimes laid down a watercolour wash first on top of the wax resist, I let that dry and then came in with the India ink. I would always start with a watered down version and build up to a darker value.
Paper makes a difference as well, one that isn't as absorbent like a Stonehenge shows crisper white areas. BFK Rives is more absorbent, it had good results but somehow the wax gets a bit more covered over with the watercolour or ink than when it is on the harder Stonehenge paper. Play around with both to see what you like the look of best.
I have to put more time in to this wax resist technique, I didn't get the look I was after today. I discovered what looked best to my eye was to make marks repeatedly over the entire page, as a way to generate a pattern. Strong contrast with the India ink is very important.
Drawing on top of smoked piece
Smoked piece
