“Strong yet delicate, this medium creates fabulous textured grounds for layering and painting into. Watercolour paint will sink into the grooves and form dark pools of colour.” Lucinda Allwood, artist and art teacher from Lancashire in northwest England, says tissue is a fundamental material in her working life, and she couldn’t be without it.
Tissue features in all aspects of my working life. As a watercolour teacher we use tissue to create pattern and lift highlights in painting.
When teaching embroidery students are advised to use acid free tissue to store their silk embroideries.
My personal work includes painting, collage and model making. I use tissue because of its versatile properties. I am keen to use non-precious, readily available materials and turn them into pieces of art.
Tissue creates fabulous textured grounds for layering and painting into. Watercolour paint will sink into the grooves and form dark pools of colour.
Its tensile strength is excellent for bonding sculptural pieces. It absorbs glue and becomes a strong yet delicate material to layer and hold pieces together.
Tissue suspended by wire is translucent and ethereal and an excellent medium for shadow puppets.
I chose to model the ‘Seated Harlequin with a Red Background’, 1905, by Picasso, as an example for Tissue World Magazine.
The painting is from Picasso’s Rose, period with a pensive Harlequin set against a violent red background. It is suggested Picasso identified himself as the harlequin/clown figure. The model is made using paper-based clay which is fine and malleable, and it is then rolled flat, cut and sculped to make a hollow figure in two halves.
He stands 30cm tall, his knees, thighs and arms are jointed so he can sit in his Picasso pose, but also move as a marionette.
The clay is left to dry for several days. Then tissue is torn into thin slivers, soaked in glue and used as ‘bandages’ to hold the two halves of the body together. Tissue is a surprisingly robust bonding material thanks to its absorbent properties.
His hat and clothing are layered in tissue soaked with glue. I specifically use tissue because it is lightweight and won’t add extra bulk to the model. The tissue naturally forms wrinkles and rivulets which create beautiful tonal effects when painted.
The background and bench needed to be worked on a larger scale so larger sheets of tissue were glued and crudely painted.
I see tissue as a fundamental material in my working life, and couldn’t be without it.
