Playing in the new studio!

I'm out in Idaho in my new home, though it will be more of a vacation spot for a few years.  I am so glad to be closer to family (literally next door!) after many decades of physical distance, and the last 20 years across the continent.

I love the house, and especially my new studio space - and today I played with paper marbling, having just taken an incredible workshop recently in Connecticut.  I have a small set-up here, that I purchased from Galen Berry, and although it seemed a lot at the time I bought it (prior to ever marbling anything), it is a rather limited palette, as you will see!  More colors on the way, now that I know a bit more.

This post is mostly marbling pictures, for my own records.... so lengthy!

First, though, here are some pictures of this beautiful part of Idaho.  Below is a picture from my backyard.  We lease the land to a wonderful young farmer, who plants and cuts hay for cattle and horses.  He has just baled the hay (in anticipation of rain this coming weekend).  The very dark green sliver you can see just to the right of the top forested area on the left is garbanzo beans, planted by our neighbor.

 Here, you can see our farm as we come in from Deary (a small town about 10 minutes away).

 And here you can see the place as we approach from the other side, from the canyon where the small towns of Kendrick and Juliaetta are located.   The bit of white just the right of the barn is my house.

 And here is my house - a back patio and large roofed front porch are scheduled in the coming weeks.  This view is from my brother and sister-in-law's side gate.  My new studio is on the rear of the house toward the back of this picture - deliberately placed so as not to interfere too much with anyone's view!

Now, onto marbling!!

I used today as a play session, to explore pattern recipes, and to make sure I knew how to make the marbling bath (known as size), as well as how to get the paints fluid enough to spread on top of the bath before creating the patterns.  So here goes...

Throughout I am using Masa rice paper, a bit larger than 8.5 x 11 inches.  One thing I learned is to be more careful with my application of alum (which acts like gesso to hold the paint to the paper).  But I was pleased that my size worked fine.

First - an attempt at Spanish Moire, which creates that dimension look of rolled fabric/paper.... I only managed to get this on the bottom half....

I did better on this one, though still missing a lot of the paper!  This is the whole sheet; the top half is detailed at the start of the post.

Playing around with the double (bouquet) rake...

 This is supposed to be Feathered Wings pattern.....

Below on the top is the Bouquet pattern.... and below that the same but with double combing.  This produces much more detail in the pattern, and is one I will certainly want to hone.

Some more play....

 And a try at the French curl...

as well as the Thistle.

As I get a chance to unpack my studio at some point, I look forward to playing with my stamps and paints, like usual - but love indulging in the marbling as well.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and if you've time, please do comment..... I love to hear your thoughts!   xxx Lynn