On the homepage of my website, I reference that ‘mark-making is a creative journey’, which has intrigued some people to ask me what I mean by mark-making?
So this journal entry is an attempt to explain my process and why I use that term. Mark-making simply means… to make marks.
In a previous life as a teacher, mark-making was certainly a focus in the nursery class, where young children were allowed the freedom to develop early drawing and writing skills through a variety of planned and free-form activities.
Mark-making pretty much has the same purpose for me now as an emerging artist, I spend a lot of time observing, experimenting and drawing. Mark-making has been a way for me to gain confidence using different materials to develop a variety of drawing strokes and techniques without feeling precious about the end results. These trial-and-error exercises have allowed me the freedom to make mistakes and to explore different possibilities. As my mark-making or drawing practice has evolved, I have become more confident, and I am more likely to achieve my intended result. I like sinewy lines, and they appear in a lot of my paintings!
Every time I begin a new painting, I start with an under-drawing. It may be the horizon or the route of a river or a rugged coastline. I use those initial marks as a guide but do not necessarily stick rigidly to the original drawing. I often use charcoal, but mark-making can involve drawing with pencil, pens, inks, and paint too.
Like a signature, the marks give a painting its identity, and because of the unique characteristics of the mark-making, it becomes a way to identify a particular artist’s work.
The best compliment I have ever had was from another artist telling me that she could always recognise my paintings from the marks that I make. I think that means I am developing my own ‘painterly’ language!
While drawing lines is important for me at the start of a painting, I often apply marks to a finished painting, too – either drawn or scratched onto the surface.
What is mark-making?
/by Lisa HoustonOn the homepage of my website, I reference that ‘mark-making is a creative journey’, which has intrigued some people to ask me what I mean by mark-making?
So this journal entry is an attempt to explain my process and why I use that term. Mark-making simply means… to make marks.
In a previous life as a teacher, mark-making was certainly a focus in the nursery class, where young children were allowed the freedom to develop early drawing and writing skills through a variety of planned and free-form activities.
Mark-making pretty much has the same purpose for me now as an emerging artist, I spend a lot of time observing, experimenting and drawing. Mark-making has been a way for me to gain confidence using different materials to develop a variety of drawing strokes and techniques without feeling precious about the end results. These trial-and-error exercises have allowed me the freedom to make mistakes and to explore different possibilities. As my mark-making or drawing practice has evolved, I have become more confident, and I am more likely to achieve my intended result. I like sinewy lines, and they appear in a lot of my paintings!
Every time I begin a new painting, I start with an under-drawing. It may be the horizon or the route of a river or a rugged coastline. I use those initial marks as a guide but do not necessarily stick rigidly to the original drawing. I often use charcoal, but mark-making can involve drawing with pencil, pens, inks, and paint too.
The best compliment I have ever had was from another artist telling me that she could always recognise my paintings from the marks that I make. I think that means I am developing my own ‘painterly’ language!
While drawing lines is important for me at the start of a painting, I often apply marks to a finished painting, too – either drawn or scratched onto the surface.
The Great Outdoors – Magazine Feature
/by Lisa HoustonLiving close to the sea means I sometimes get a chance to go sailing and this painting came out of spending a night on anchor in Loch na Droma Buidhe which is a small loch tucked in at the top of Loch Sunart and a short hop and a skip from Tobermory.
It is a great place to find peace and to watch the sun go down and if you are lucky you get to experience these special moments. Sometimes when the sky has been overcast all day it clears, and everything is illuminated.
One of the biggest challenges for this piece was trying to include all the compositional elements on such a small canvas without losing the sense of space and distance or the atmosphere and magic light. It is a small painting representing a wonderful moment.
Magic Light | Oil on Board |15 x 21 cm
I love a sketchbook
/by Lisa HoustonFor many, it’s putting paint on canvas that really gets them excited, yet for me, it’s the preliminary work I do in sketchbooks, the simple lines and mark-making, that help shape ideas and contexts for creating larger works…although to be honest, sometimes a simple sketch is as good as it gets.
A day spent along the shore or in the hills gives plenty of opportunity for sketching. Sometimes when I get a bit stuck with a painting, I go back to my sketchbook to remind myself of the joy of not worrying about how something will turn out and make art simply to enjoy the process.
These are a series of sketches from December when the weather was cold, and I certainly didn’t want to hang about for too long.
Winter wanderings…
/by Lisa HoustonOur winter wanderings provided a great opportunity for me to explore the frozen and snow-covered landscapes across the peninsula and allowed me to create some new sketches and paintings.
Snow comes to Ardnamurchan!
/by Lisa HoustonLiving by the sea we very rarely get much snow, but this year was different, and we had a very wintry January.
Unfortunately, because of Lockdown, there was no skiing to be had on Aonach Mor, but we made up for it by taking every opportunity to get away in our local hills. Archie loves the snow too!
Here we are at the top of Beinn Resipol on a clear, blue-sky day with a stunning view out to the Small Isles and, although you can’t see it in the photograph, we could even see all the way to the Outer Hebrides. It is on days like this we feel blessed to live where we do.
Thank you very much!
/by Lisa HoustonWhat a great feeling it is when someone loves your paintings enough to enquire about owning one…and then they ask if it is possible to buy three!
I was so happy to see these three artworks heading off to a new home in Skye. Delivery was affected by some of the worst snowy weather we’ve experienced in a very long time so I was a bit anxious about them arriving safely, but all was well.
I have got an empty space in my studio now. These were my favourites too.
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