Tylor McNeil - Oil Painting

Mark Making with Handmade Brushes and Tools

MaryLou has taught Mark Making with Handmade Brushes and Tools to artists, calligraphers and those wishing to develop and expand their distinct visual language. In this workshop, students will work with material collected from nature to make hand-made ‘brushes’ and mark making tools.

Students will collect botanical materials for the brushes and tools from the wild, forests, lanes, meadows, beaches, shorelines or lakeside. Once the materials have been gathered, students will create mark making tools using jute, string, linen thread, wool, wire, and

any other materials they choose.  Students will be shown a collection of the instructor’s hand-

made tools as a reference and given guidance about how to make their own tools.

Once students have created a selection of tools, they will begin to experiment with making  expressive gestural marks. The instructor will demonstrate some mark making techniques using a  variety of inks - sumi ink, India ink, walnut ink and acrylic ink. From there, students will experiment

on their own through a series of exercises. These unique marks can stand alone, or used with other art forms such as hand lettering, painting, or printmaking. These one-of-a-kind marks  can be an effective way of conveying emotion in ways that conventional tools may not.

* IMPORTANT  Care must be taken to not remove any wild botanical materials from protected areas, parks or land that is privately owned. Please respect the land and the plants that grow on it.

Supplies List

Paper - Students should bring a selection of paper to experiment with. Anything from inexpensive drawing

paper, to better quality water colour paper such as BFK Rives, Strathmore or Arches, rice paper, or

mulberry paper and any other type of paper they wish to experiment with. We will see the difference the

paper makes in the quality of the marks.

Ink – Students should bring a selection of ink that should include one black ink such as India ink (black),

or sumi ink (black) and, any amount of acrylic ink in any colours of their choice. We will at first be using

black to see what kind of marks the brushes make, and after we will incorporate some colour.

Botanicals materials – Students should bring a variety of dried botanical materials they have collected

from wild areas*. These materials will be made into hand-made brushes/tools that will be dipped into ink.

(Some botanical materials will be available).

Binding material – Students should bring a selection of material to bind the botanical materials together

into a brush such as jute, cotton string, linen thread, copper wire, wool, leather etc.

The idea is to create a brush/tool that’s unique to you and reflects your own style and esthetic.

Ink containers – Students should bring at least one wide mouthed, flat bottomed container that can hold

ink and allow a large brush to dip into it. ( a large yogurt container is an example) and a second large

container to hold water.

Miscellaneous - Scissors, paper towel, artist tape, pens, pencils, ruler, old hair dryer (for craft use)

apron to protect clothing, gloves etc. We may want to cover tables with plastic to prevent ink splatters.