'Pagan Soul' poetry project with Mark Westmore
I've taken some photos of my latest painting in stages, to demonstrate how I create my artwork. 'Pagan Soul' is my latest in an ongoing collection of paintings, part of a poetry collaboration with local poet Mark Westmore and this painting includes the poem within the artwork.
![1jpg](//d2f0ora2gkri0g.cloudfront.net/50/e6/50e606f4-b21a-40bf-964a-bdb98d678297.jpg)
This is a page from my poetry collaboration sketchbook; all of the ideas start off as squiggles and doodles inspired by Mark's words. I felt compelled to use the spiral shape from the beginning, so based the composition around this.
![2jpg](//d2f0ora2gkri0g.cloudfront.net/a4/fd/a4fd14c9-ce2c-4185-a65d-f242abff53fe.jpg)
I made some quick sketches of wolves from photographs in biro.
![3jpg](//d2f0ora2gkri0g.cloudfront.net/06/8e/068e5c50-54a2-4740-ab27-673d097ec3bc.jpg)
I decided to choose the white wolf, as that seemed to fit my original idea the best.
![4jpg](//d2f0ora2gkri0g.cloudfront.net/85/b2/85b2542f-6694-4b1a-8be2-b3ea81c71a98.jpg)
I lightly sketched out the basic composition within a box, so that the sequence of paintings are all the same size.
![5jpg](//d2f0ora2gkri0g.cloudfront.net/93/91/9391bbcf-6efa-45d0-bab4-d0af7e07b654.jpg)
Playing around with colour; I didn't use all of these in the end, as I thought the greys may give a less vibrant atmosphere - and I wasn't sure how the silver would work. That's one to experiment with in the future, when I don't have a deadline to keep to.
![6jpg](//d2f0ora2gkri0g.cloudfront.net/cd/0d/cd0d7a38-0665-4d7a-a301-644ae8c886a6.jpg)
I start with the light colours first; with my scraping technique the first colour you put down is the one that comes through, so I'm careful about where I'm placing them - but not too careful, as the random results are often the most interesting.
![8jpg](//d2f0ora2gkri0g.cloudfront.net/b7/15/b7156513-ef29-4aad-9195-25bfe1233ac0.jpg)
I make sure that no area of paper is uncovered by pastel (or the ink will just stay there) and then brush away the bits.
![9jpg](//d2f0ora2gkri0g.cloudfront.net/5c/b9/5cb99a2e-eca8-47ef-870b-36bfc70d0516.jpg)
This is something I haven't detailed before: to make the writing black on a pale background, I scratch deeply into the pastel, before applying the ink.
![10jpg](//d2f0ora2gkri0g.cloudfront.net/d1/a0/d1a066ef-9d7b-4ea9-a3aa-8bfbbe8a39c2.jpg)
I cover the writing with ink and allow it to dry, before scraping it away. Usually I like to work with wet ink, but this would ruin the detail of the writing here.
![11jpg](//d2f0ora2gkri0g.cloudfront.net/6c/26/6c2645d4-4203-4b1c-b112-a9e2bb435139.jpg)
Next I cover the entire surface with ink, in this case prussian blue water based lino ink. I leave some white areas, so that it doesn't become too dark.
![12jpg](//d2f0ora2gkri0g.cloudfront.net/10/bd/10bdd20d-1f2e-4692-a7a4-ae39d20f0430.jpg)
I need to start quickly scratching away the fur of the wolf - and particularly the eye - as this works best when the ink is still wet.
![14jpg](//d2f0ora2gkri0g.cloudfront.net/20/2a/202afca7-3f18-459b-8ef5-1651e952d5e4.jpg)
I decided to add some ivy as a border, as I thought the writing might look a bit random on its own.
![15jpg](//d2f0ora2gkri0g.cloudfront.net/a7/3a/a73a6cc3-fb22-42a4-ae44-9e1cd1d8aa81.jpg)
Then I had some fun scraping away the ink from the writing; it's worked really well this time - probably the hot weather made it dry faster - and I don't need to fill in any gaps.
![16jpg](//d2f0ora2gkri0g.cloudfront.net/dd/e9/dde94542-c191-4c12-bc54-b6427e367205.jpg)
A bit more painting and scraping.
![17jpg](//d2f0ora2gkri0g.cloudfront.net/ba/8c/ba8cd3a9-276e-4079-8463-979ad5adcd9c.jpg)
And I finish it off with some white and silver ink splashes, covering the writing, as I don't want to reduce the legibility of the poem.
To read more pagan poetry by Mark Westmore please visit: https://www.facebook.com/wayahed/
Thanks for reading my blog!
If you want to keep up with my regular blog posts please follow me on my Vikki Yeates illustration facebook page.
![1jpg](http://d2f0ora2gkri0g.cloudfront.net/50/e6/50e606f4-b21a-40bf-964a-bdb98d678297.jpg)
This is a page from my poetry collaboration sketchbook; all of the ideas start off as squiggles and doodles inspired by Mark's words. I felt compelled to use the spiral shape from the beginning, so based the composition around this.
![2jpg](http://d2f0ora2gkri0g.cloudfront.net/a4/fd/a4fd14c9-ce2c-4185-a65d-f242abff53fe.jpg)
I made some quick sketches of wolves from photographs in biro.
![3jpg](http://d2f0ora2gkri0g.cloudfront.net/06/8e/068e5c50-54a2-4740-ab27-673d097ec3bc.jpg)
I decided to choose the white wolf, as that seemed to fit my original idea the best.
![4jpg](http://d2f0ora2gkri0g.cloudfront.net/85/b2/85b2542f-6694-4b1a-8be2-b3ea81c71a98.jpg)
I lightly sketched out the basic composition within a box, so that the sequence of paintings are all the same size.
![5jpg](http://d2f0ora2gkri0g.cloudfront.net/93/91/9391bbcf-6efa-45d0-bab4-d0af7e07b654.jpg)
Playing around with colour; I didn't use all of these in the end, as I thought the greys may give a less vibrant atmosphere - and I wasn't sure how the silver would work. That's one to experiment with in the future, when I don't have a deadline to keep to.
![6jpg](http://d2f0ora2gkri0g.cloudfront.net/cd/0d/cd0d7a38-0665-4d7a-a301-644ae8c886a6.jpg)
I start with the light colours first; with my scraping technique the first colour you put down is the one that comes through, so I'm careful about where I'm placing them - but not too careful, as the random results are often the most interesting.
![8jpg](http://d2f0ora2gkri0g.cloudfront.net/b7/15/b7156513-ef29-4aad-9195-25bfe1233ac0.jpg)
I make sure that no area of paper is uncovered by pastel (or the ink will just stay there) and then brush away the bits.
![9jpg](http://d2f0ora2gkri0g.cloudfront.net/5c/b9/5cb99a2e-eca8-47ef-870b-36bfc70d0516.jpg)
This is something I haven't detailed before: to make the writing black on a pale background, I scratch deeply into the pastel, before applying the ink.
![10jpg](http://d2f0ora2gkri0g.cloudfront.net/d1/a0/d1a066ef-9d7b-4ea9-a3aa-8bfbbe8a39c2.jpg)
I cover the writing with ink and allow it to dry, before scraping it away. Usually I like to work with wet ink, but this would ruin the detail of the writing here.
![11jpg](http://d2f0ora2gkri0g.cloudfront.net/6c/26/6c2645d4-4203-4b1c-b112-a9e2bb435139.jpg)
Next I cover the entire surface with ink, in this case prussian blue water based lino ink. I leave some white areas, so that it doesn't become too dark.
![12jpg](http://d2f0ora2gkri0g.cloudfront.net/10/bd/10bdd20d-1f2e-4692-a7a4-ae39d20f0430.jpg)
I need to start quickly scratching away the fur of the wolf - and particularly the eye - as this works best when the ink is still wet.
![14jpg](http://d2f0ora2gkri0g.cloudfront.net/20/2a/202afca7-3f18-459b-8ef5-1651e952d5e4.jpg)
I decided to add some ivy as a border, as I thought the writing might look a bit random on its own.
![15jpg](http://d2f0ora2gkri0g.cloudfront.net/a7/3a/a73a6cc3-fb22-42a4-ae44-9e1cd1d8aa81.jpg)
Then I had some fun scraping away the ink from the writing; it's worked really well this time - probably the hot weather made it dry faster - and I don't need to fill in any gaps.
![16jpg](http://d2f0ora2gkri0g.cloudfront.net/dd/e9/dde94542-c191-4c12-bc54-b6427e367205.jpg)
A bit more painting and scraping.
![17jpg](http://d2f0ora2gkri0g.cloudfront.net/ba/8c/ba8cd3a9-276e-4079-8463-979ad5adcd9c.jpg)
And I finish it off with some white and silver ink splashes, covering the writing, as I don't want to reduce the legibility of the poem.
To read more pagan poetry by Mark Westmore please visit: https://www.facebook.com/wayahed/
Thanks for reading my blog!
If you want to keep up with my regular blog posts please follow me on my Vikki Yeates illustration facebook page.