Gravestones and Ivy.

All of the following work is in an A4 sketchbook.

1

A lot of the text on gravestones tends to be quite plain so this decorative lettering stood out. On the left hand page, I used some texture gels from Reeves. I used the end of a paintbrush to incise the large word 'Sacred'near the top and I used a selection of printing blocks to make the other letters.
On the right hand page, I used Golden's Light Molding Paste, this time through a stencil. I painted the resulting motifs in gold, as this reminded me of the many opulent decorations within churches and chapels. I printed and stencilled several other words with the same meaning as 'sacred'. I particularly like the colours on these pages. They seem quite mysterious and meditative, which seems to go with the subject.
This piece could be transferred to wet fabric, using Caran D'Ache Neocolour 2, watersoluble crayons. Inktense pencils could be used on any areas which needed more definition.


2

For these gravestones, I cut out a stencil from a sheet of acetate and scraped Reeves modelling Paste through it. I used the stencil several times, in different positions.
When looking round a graveyard at dusk, I was struck by the looming shapes, weathered and indistinct. The names on many of them were difficult to decipher because of years of erosion, rendering the people buried there anonymous.



3

Many of the very old gravestones were almost hidden under ivy. Some of it was green and leafy, some was long dead, leaving only the dried, grasping tendrils, still clawing at the stone.
On the left hand page, I used P.V.A. woodworking glue for the tendrils and on the right hand page, string covered with tissue paper. The leaves were made from molding paste coloured with Jacquard Lumiere paints.