Art Journal Collage Using Gelli Prints- "To Be Brave"

I've been seeing some amazing collages made by artists using their gelli plate prints, so I thought I would try one! Mine isn't amazing, but it was fun to do, fed my soul, made me happy, and I like it. 😊

The base gelli print was a page in my journal where I had cleaned off my roller and my plate and added the gold buttons, using a handmade stamp. I liked it as it was, but decided to develop it further into a mixed-media collage. The long white/pinkish strip on the left is another gelli print that I had intended to turn into a bookmark, but since I had sort of sketch/painted a tailless bird on one end, and the colors seemed to work with the journal page, I glued it down with matte gel medium.

I added some stars and a large circle that I had punched out for a previous project. I outlined all with a charcoal pencil. The large circle needed something, so I used one of my downsized original monotypes, from a previous jewelry project, to break it up, and outlined it with the charcoal pencil. I added the pink/gold washi tape to kind of break things up, and glued a piece of text down, but it still needed something under the bird.

I happened to have a white duck feather that I had previously used on a couple of gelli prints to pick up paint from the plate laying on my desk. It also happened to be blue! So I cut off the end and glued it to the bird, giving him a tail, and finished painting the bird. I also gave him a posca marker branch to sit on. I gave the whole page some charcoal scribbles and bits of paint and called it done!

Mixed-media journal paper, mixed-media, including, Golden open media acrylics, handmade button stamp, gelli prints, a printed duck feather, posca marker, charcoal pencil, punched out circles and stars from painted papers, text, gold metallic acrylic paint, washi tape, palette knife to paint bird body/head, and probably something else that I forgot. Since my work space is in total disarray, and my space to work is about the size of my 5"x 7" gelli plate and sketchbook, I used whatever was handy, but I'm thinking it turned out ok.

Can't wait to try a collage painting using my gelli prints, but I may try a couple more of these before I attempt that. I also need to get back to my classes that I started last year, but maybe I will and maybe I won't. Sometimes, I just need to do my own thing! 😊

Stay creative and happy!