"I begin with an idea ... and then it becomes something else"
~ Picasso

Thursday 25 February 2010

Pebbles as a hobby

This is the first page inside my "altered" sketchbook















I used a vintage book called "Pebbles as a Hobby". The book is quite old and the pages have a nice aged feel about them. I went through it glueing some pages together, painting the pages with thinned white emulsion or gesso and also covered some of the pages with different types of paper eg. tissue papers and handmade textured papers. On some pages I left some interesting sections of text visible here and there




















This is a small watercolour I painted. I was observing and playing with pebble colours in my palette. I used diluted tea with my paints rather than water which gives more subtle pebble colours

Afterwards, I used a tissue to soak up the excess watercolours as I hate to waste a drop of anything! When the tissue was dry I stuck it in one of my sketchbooks. It made a nice textured background on another page















It was nice to hear that so many of you share a love of pebbles and stones and collecting pebbles

The work I'm showing is part of a large project I did a while back at college on a pebble, rock and mineral theme, but it's a recurring theme for me as I'm constantly inspired by my beachcombing finds locally on the beaches of St. Ives and Godrevy in Cornwall

Carolyn ♥

11 comments:

Gina said...

The page with your painting looks beautiful Carolyn.

Julie said...

I shall look forward to seeing this book grow. Love the new background :o) xx

Corinna Nitschmann said...

It might be an interesting question why so many different people love pebbles? They remind you at your childhood. They are so rounded and it feels good to hold them in your hand. They can be warm and cold - as they would be alive. They have a calming colour. They are very very old - they might be a connection to the roots of ...?... What else?

Joei Rhode Island said...

I love the idea of tea for diluent with paints! And I too wonder why so many of us love pebbles..I have many across the kitchen window ledge ...daily reminders of visits to loved places.

Anonymous said...

The British Library would like to archive the following websites:
http://love-stitching-red.blogspot.com/ AND http://carolynsaxby.blogspot.com/ for Cornwall Collection

Dear Sir/Madam

The British Library has a responsibility to preserve national documentary heritage to the future generations. Our collecting responsibility extends to UK non-print material including websites, and we are now selecting some key sites of research interest to form the basis of the Cornwall Collection.

We would like to invite you to have your site(s) included in this important collection, which provides a valuable resource for researchers now and in the future. There are benefits to you as a website owner in having your publication archived by the British Library such as having a historical record of your website(s). We aim to develop preservation mechanisms to keep your publication permanently accessible as hardware and software change over time. The British Library works closely with leading UK institutions to collect and permanently preserve the UK web, and our archive can be seen at www.webarchive.org.uk.

If you are not the sole copyright owner, please ensure you have cleared the permissions with other contributors to your site(s). It should be noted that the British Library reserves the right to take down any material from the archived site which, in its reasonable opinion either infringes copyright or any other intellectual property right or is likely to be illegal.

If you are happy for your site(s) to be archived, you should download the copyright licence form at http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/bldept/modbrit/licence.html. (Alternatively, feel free to ask us if you would like to receive the form as an e-mail attachment.) Please complete and return the form to the address given below by e-mail or post. If there are any other of your sites which you would like to be considered for archiving, please feel free to make additional copies of the licence form.

More information about copyright and how your archived website(s) will be made available can be found in the FAQs at http://www.webarchive.org.uk/ukwa/info/faq. Should you require any additional information, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Yours sincerely,

Akiko Kimura (pp. Alison Hill, Curator)
Web Archiving
The British Library
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Chris Gray said...

...beautiful watercolours Carolyn...

ewa-christine said...

Nice working as always, Hope youe weekend will be very nice!

mano said...

thank you for the nice comment on my blog. I also love pebbles so much and I am intrigued by your blogs and your work. I stayed in St. Ives 1996 and I loved the studio of barbara hepwort, the Tate, all the little galleries and the Leach Pottery. Of course, I collected many pebbles from the beaches in cornwall! Have a look to my blog again - I show you some pages of my scrapbook 14 years ago...
And congratulations for archiving by the British Library!

JP said...

what a great idea about the tea instead of water - love the British Library idea - heard about this on the radio - you are now part of posterity!! - what agreat thought!

Anu said...

Dear Carolyn,I fell in love with one of your drawings and would like to take it as a pattern for a felt...The bird with the skirt on your photo-patchwork...with some changing (s)he would be perfect for my raven...please contact me! another pebble-lover...

red road studio said...

what a lovely find! love your use of colour and texture - something so simple as a pebble but it just come to life!