Round Gelli Plate Tutorial Part 1

I'm  really excited  about  my  new 4"  and  6"  gelli  plates--I  just  had  to  show  everyone  how  they  work!

I  consider  myself  a  newbie  when  it  comes  to  the  Gelli  Plate,  but  I'm  getting  better,  and  the  only  way  to  learn  is  to  do---you  can  watch  countless  videos  and  see  LOTS  of  instructions  on  the  internet,  but  it's  not  the  same--the  more  you  play  with  the  gelli  plate,  the  more  you  find  out  all  of  the  different  techniques  that  you  can  do  with  it,  but  again  there  is  a  small  learning  curve.

So  when  I  received  my  round  plates  a  few  days  ago,  I  just  started  playing  and  playing  and  playing  and..........and  I'll  tell  you  what  really  helped  me  was  the  Gelli  Arts  video  tutorial  that's  up  on  their  blog  right  now--beside the  fact that  the  tutorial  is  very  informative,  you'll  also  want  to  go  there  because  they're  having  an  awesome  giveaway  which  ends  later  on  today.

I'll  show  you  a  little  of  what  I  learned  from  it.   As  their  tutorial  shows,  you  can  use  these  plates  as  a  stamp, which  I  REALLY  loved.   For  the  6  inch  plate,  I  found  this  acrylic  box  frame--which  is  actually  a  picture  frame--in  other  words--anything  clear  and  hard (plastic, glass, mounting stamp block, etc)--as  long  as  you  can  see  through  it  and  the  gelli  plate  adheres  to  it  well.

You  can  see  the  frame  here,  which  works  great  for  the  6"  plate  AND  the  4"  one  as  well.  I  didn't  have  anything  smaller,  so  I  just  used  the  larger  frame  for  the  4"  one--makes  no  difference.   And  you  can  also  see  my tools  of  the  trade  (not  pictured--a  brayer---a  necessity  for  the  plates--makes  it  a  lot  easier)  My  favorite  paints  to  use  for  the  gelli  plates--Liquitex  basics  and  craft  paint--inexpensive,  but  they  work  great!  And  stencils,  stencils,  and  more  stencils--but  they're  only  the  tip  of  the iceberg--so many other  texturizing  tools you  can  use  to  get   really  neat  effects. 

So  the  first  thing  you  do  is  apply  the  paint  with  a  brayer  to  the  plate  after  it's  adhered  to  the  mount  (acrylic box  frame) --just  as  you  would  on  a  regular gelli  plate.  I  found  that  when  I  made  the  circles,  I  liked  the  more  distressed  look.   So  what  I  did,   was  after  I  brayered  the  paint  on,  I  bunched  up  a  dry  paper  towel  and  blotted  up  some  of  the  paint  on  the  plate,  and  then  I  used  it  just  like  a  stamp  on  a  large  piece  of  140lb  watercolor  paper.

You  get  more  of  a  mottled  look  (which  adds  a  little  more  depth)  as  opposed  to  the  solid  color--this  is  my  preference--there's  no  rules  to  this--just  do  what  makes  you  smile.

Next  step  is  laying  the  stencil  over  the  print--

then  apply  the  paint  to  the  plate  once  again  with  a  contrasting  color,  and  again,  I  did  the  same  thing  with  the  paper  towel  (blotting  up  some  of  the  paint)--then  stamp  over  the  existing  print--that's  what's  great  about  the  clear  mount  you  can  see  exactly  where  to place  the  gelli  plate.  As  far  as  keeping  the  plate  clean  between  printing--it's  just  like  the  regular  gelli  plate--your  preference--clean  it  every  time  or  not--it  depends  on  the  look  that  you're  going  for.   And  I  just  kept  the  plate  on  the  acrylic  mount  the  entire  time  I  made  the  prints--I  just  kept  wiping  away  the  extra  paint  as  I  went--very  easy  clean  up.

---really  liking  that  distressed  look,  and  I  also  like  the  fact  that  I  didn't  get  a  perfect  imprint  of  the  stencil.   And  if  you  look   to the  bottom  right-hand  corner of  it--that's  my  ghost  print  from  the  plate--the  negative  side?   I'm  not  sure  if  it's  the  negative  side  or  not-it's  just  the  plate  with  the   stencil  design  already  on  it  without  the  stencil--I  think  you  know  what  I  mean--right??  Here's  a  better  pic  of  it--

And  from  there  I  just  kept  going--randomly  'stamping'  the  6  and  4  inch  plates all  over  the  paper--

I  didn't  do  this  in  one  shot--there  was  a  lot  of  trial  and  error  experimenting,  until  I  started  to  feel  comfortable  with  what  I  was  doing.   By  this  time,  I  knew  what  kind  of  art  that  I  was  going  to  make  with  all  of  my  print  playing,  so  I  decided  to  'finish'  off   this  page.  I  could  have  left  it  as  is,  but  I  just  can't  seem  to  leave  that  white  space  alone--

I  love  the  way  this  came  out--I  could  have  left  it  this  way  and  put  it  in  a  frame  just  the  way  it  was,  but  my   real  love  is  paper  collage,  and  this  was  my  plan.

I  also  had  a  2nd  piece  of  watercolor  paper  that  I  used  for  my  ghost  prints,  and  I  added  just  a  little  more  to  that  one  also--

A  little  more  subtle--I  like  this  one  too.   The  only  thing  I  added  were  the  flowery  star-bursts,  and  here's  how  I  did  those--

I  took  my  stencil  sheet  and  stamped  it  with  the  4"  plate  that  I  applied  paint  to  in   random  spots  all  over  the  paper--easier  and  faster  than  actually  using  a  stencil  brush.  I  really  recommend  going  over  to the  Gelli  Arts  blog  and  watching  the  video--it's  a  lot  easier  to  see  than  to  explain.

Okay,  so  here  are  my  papers--

 And  yes,  there  are  some  cut-up  circles  that  I  made  with  the  4"  plate--I  have  a  plan,  and  in  my  next  post  you'll  see  what  it  is.

Happy Times = Happy Art

The title pretty much says it all--no real need for words.....

Zoie!   She  was  1 week  old  yesterday,  and  she  is  very  content  in  her  world,  which  makes  us  all  very  happy  here!!

Art Journaling--My Way

Every  year at  the  beginning,  I  always  make  a  commitment  to  start  journaling--I  should  just  re-post  my  blog  post  from  last  year  and  the  year  before.   I  always  have  good  intentions  and  then  by  February--it  falls  by  the  wayside.   But  when  I  think  of  it,  when  I  paint  my  papers  to  put  in  my  artwork,  it's  very  much  like  journaling.

I  stuck  with  black,  white,  and  red--colors  that  I  normally  don't  use  a  lot  in  this  combination,  but  just  like  art  journaling--it's  trying  different  things  to  see how  you  like  them,  and  I  really  like  these  3  together.   It's  also  fun,   just  like  journaling,  to  fool  around  with  different  mediums--

This  is  molding  paste  that  I  added  black  paint  to--so  now  I  have  a  textured  paper  to  use.  It's  a  great  effect  to  add  the  watery  acrylic  wash  over  the  paste.

Just  like  journaling--it's  fun  and  always  good  to  play!

AND....since  January  will  be  here  in  a  couple  of  days,  I  know  what  that  means--time  to  get  out  my  journal  that  I  started  last  year,  and  said  that  I  was  going  to  complete  in  2011...........right.    Well,  anyway,  it's  the  Strathmore  Visual  Journal,  which  is  great  for  any  medium,  and  I'm  going  to  continue  on  with  it  in  my  FREE  Strathmore Online  Class  with  Traci  Bautista.   Last  year  it  was  with  Pam  Carriker,  and  I  picked  up  some  great  techniques  with  her  class.    And  also  Life  Book.   I'm  sure  most  everyone  knows  about  this  class--well  worth  it  with  14  artists  and  Tam  for  the  entire  year,  and  IF  I  can  keep  up  with  it--it  will  be  a  complete  journal  by  the  end  of  the  year.   I'm  ready  for  both  of  the  journaling  classes  and  joining  in  with  everyone.

I  do  want  to  say  that  I  have  a  sketchbook  that  doesn't  leave  my  side,  and  it's  actually  just  about  filled.    I  make  it  a  regular  practice  to  sketch  faces--very  relaxing  for  me.......so  I  guess  you  could  say  that  I  DO  journal!

Hope  to  see  everyone  in  2012  at  class!

Black, White, And Red

It's not all black and white is what the theme is this week at Mixed Media Monday--so keeping  with my colors from  my last post, I'm sticking with the red--

Did you ever have one of those pieces that you're working on , and just aren't satisfied with it, and you keep adding more stuff to it?   Well, this is one of those pieces, and luckily I documented the process with photos. So come along with me on my journey, and I'll show you.  So the first thing I did was take a gallery wrapped  8 x 10 canvas and collaged black and white papers on it, because that's the theme-right?

The sheet music is from a collage pack that I purchased from Ophelia--wonderful items in this pack, including some old ledger papers, which I love.  And she still has more available--just click on her name for the link.  It was perfect for what I wanted, because I knew that I was going to be putting roses on it, and the name of the song was  "Under the Rose Arbor"--perfect :D

After that,  I put a titan buff wash over it (I know, I know--it's not white, but I would say it's ivory--a member of the white family) and Golden's  crackle  paste on the edges and on the rose stencil.  I love this crackle paste, because that's just what it does when it dries-- it cracks.

So I added some script stamp in places and the ladies face--I love this stamp--I use her alot.

Okay, you see that house in the corner?  Well, that's an inkjet transfer, that I'm so proud that I can do now, but I was looking at it, and thought  "this is too dark, hmmm, I know, I'll outline it (it wraps around the side of the canvas too). So after I did that, I said "no, it's too dark--it's gotta go"

P.S. Notice the music title is just about gone, except for the word Arbor--well that will still work.

So let's move forward a little bit--I got rid of the house and added more sheet music there and in other places and at the top I added the word Dance from another song title, because as you can see "Under the Rose Arbor" is long gone.  I had these fabric flowers that I added for more texture, also.  At this point, I said (notice I'm not thinking anymore, I'm saying--in other words I'm talking to myself or arguing with Clara my muse--one or the other),  "okay, it's finished" and I varnished it  (gloss varnish), and this was my final photo for MMM.  Yesterday morning when I looked at it, I said, "I don't like it", so back to the drawing board--

So now...... I added more stamping (I stamped onto old sewing pattern tissue papers and collaged them into the heart and around different places) I dirtied up the flowers, because they were just too white.  Let me see, what else--just more stamping.  And I said  "okay, now it's finished" and this was the final photo for MMM.  A  few hours later I was looking at it, and I said "it needs something,  hmmm, how about a hanger?"

P.S. What happpened to the word Dance?   I can hardly see it!

And here is the finished piece....... I think.  If this was Mixed Media Tuesday, I'd probably be still adding stuff  to it.  I have to say that I like it better in person--everything shows up so flat on the computer screen--you lose the texture of the piece.   So, that's it,  I hope you enjoyed my "tutorial"?