WIP Pages in My Wire and Plaster Art Journal

I painted on paper so long I forgot what painting on canvas felt like, even if the pages are textured with gesso/marble dust and modeling paste!

These are some of the spreads I'm currently working on, all very much still in progress! All are in my wire/plaster journal inspired by Jeanne Oliver's class (see previous post).

Bare beginnings. Let's see where they go from here!

Thin paint, napkins, ink, and texture to start...

Playing with a cruciform composition; many layers, textures and techniques...

After I posted this post, I worked on this one a bit more. The whiter background is due to a different light. I didn't like the whitish negative spaces, despite the texture not showing up in the photo, so I added some lines and a bit of gel pen marks to the cruciform attempt. I also re-worked the wire in the binding, because before it had a hump in the twisting that was going to push a hole in the middle of the page. I flattened it out. I like the wire much better. Not sure about the lines!

Texture, a tinge of paint, old photos printed off, and a bit of collage...

The beginnings of another She Tribe painting (see previous post) with inks, napkins, and text...

This one just lacks a final touch, and I'm waiting for it to tell me what that is. Many layers of many things built up to this point. See the post just before this one to see what it looked like before I rolled the light paint over it. Don't know if I did the right thing or not, but it's growing on me!

I added color to another blank spread today, but don't have pictures yet. Can't wait to experience the journey of emotions that each of these spreads will take me on, as well as, the pages waiting for their first marks! Fun stuff!

WiP Journal Pages-Before and After

The first spread I did in the plaster and wire journal that I made, inspired by Jeanne Oliver's free class (See the previous post for the Wandering Muse; Plaster and Wire journal).

It started out with a layer of a pretty blue acrylic paint, which I, unfortunately, sprayed a turquoise/teal color over, then a coffee color, which, instead of a mist, came out in splotches. I did some stenciling in titanium buff, but the turq/coffee paint, although dry, mixed with the buff. I tried taking some paint off. I tried spraying a fixative. The spray paint kept bleeding through.  I added a dark tea bag, some stencils and stamps, napkins, pencil marks, a small gelli plate print (blue cat), more paint, etc. After several layers, this is what it looked like. Too dark and too busy. I didn't like it, but didn't know what else to do to it to lighten it up some.

Then I saw in one of my groups where a lady had a painting that she said didn't have any contrast much in it, so she used a roller to apply white paint over the whole background. The texture in the background picked up the white just enough to allow enough of the colors to shine through to make a huge difference. I thought to myself, "Why not?"

So I mixed a bit of burnt sienna with titanium buff and used my little hard roller to apply it over the top of my very textured pages, and this is what I got. Not sure if I like it better, or not. Part of me really does. I know it needs just a touch of something, and the crow got kind of lost. So this is where it is for now, as I wait for it to tell me what else it needs. The little flap on the right page has a stenciled key on the other side, so there are two hidden keys to all of this chaos. I'm not caring too much for the flap right now, but, for now, it stays.

Close ups of both pages. Now I can see all sorts of little images peering at me through the chaos. I hated to cover up a lot of the stuff that started out on these pages, but it became necessary. I'm thinking the rolled on light paint made the whole thing more cohesive.

Fun to work on, but I'm going to let it rest for a while and grow on me, while I work on some other pages. The experimenting and the process is exciting! It took me years to learn to paint freely, and I enjoy it so much more than I did when I tried to get everything so perfect and realistic looking, which, of course, it never was.

I am so grateful to the teachers who said it's okay for your art to not be perfect, to paint fearlessly, and to enjoy the process!

Don't be afraid to try, to experiment, to play, and to enjoy! It doesn't have to be perfect for you to love doing it!

Revisiting a Couple of Gelli Plate Prints

I decided to do some more to these two small gelli plate prints to make them better. I think I failed, especially with the top one! Both are printed on a vintage music book page using a mini gel plate with Golden open media acrylic paints.

Originally, the cat and gelli print were printed with the cat's tail  going all the way to the top of the print. When I decided to use my Posca paint pens to add some impressionistic dots, I decided the tail didn't need to be that long and tried to cover it, and also the blue random image on the right. I should have left the tail alone. It kind of took away from the cat's character when I shortened it. It stayed like that for a long time, but this week I was playing with India ink and gel pens in my sketchbook, so I decided to add white scribbles  and highlights, along with a few black lines with the gel pens. I think I probably should have left the scribbles off the background, but it is what it is, and the only way to fix it is to go over the background with acrylic paint and kind of start over on it. I'm going to let it sit for a while and see. I can always use in in a collage. So it's all good!

When I first pulled this one, I saw the little crowd of people image in the paint, so I added black gel pen lines to bring them out and left it for a long time. Again, this week, while playing with my gel pens and ink, I used the pens to bring out the lion-ish image and highlight some of the figures. For some reason, this is comforting to me. I have since seen another figure apart from the rest, but don't know if I will pull it out, or not. Going to let it sit a while and see!

I love pulling images out of random paint and pencil marks on paper, and gelli plate prints are wonderful for that. Also addictive! 😀 Fun stuff!

10th Mindful Stitch Meditation-Gelli Printed Tea Bag Sunflower

So, this is my 10th piece, and I wanted to try something different, so I used my mini oval gelli plate to do a ghost print on a teabag when I printed the first print on fabric for meditation 6 in a previous post. It left kind of an abstract print on the teabag. The cotton piece with the sunflower is a piece from an old discarded blouse.

I lay the teabag over the sunflower and pinned it to stitch. Thinking it was a bit too long, I cut a strip off both ends of both fabric and teabag, but what was left didn't look right, so I took the pieces I cut off and rearranged them and hand stitched them back on. Then I happily followed my needle and embroidery thread around the piece, not worrying about perfect stitches and patterns. So relaxing and fun!

I think it is about 3 1/2" x 4 1/2" finished, and I ironed craft pellon to the back before stitching, except for the edges. I wanted the edges to frazzle!

I have 10 of these so far, and I've been thinking of a way to use them, besides a quilt, which would be great, except I don't enjoy quilting. I tried, today, laying them out on a strip of white cloth like on a role/scroll, which looked good. I've seen some amazing roles on Pinterest. So that's a possibility!

A fabric book has been in the back of my mind since I started doing the meditations. I already have two started, but this afternoon I cut enough white cotton fabric pages for fourteen of the meditations. Now to figure out how I want to put the pages together in book form! Fun stuff!

Maybe I'll stitch enough for a role and a book both. We'll see!

Meanwhile my work room remains topsy turvey and my supplies in boxes, because it's way too hot, even with air conditioning to continue working on putting it back together!

At least, I'm still making stuff, and excited to see where this venture of stitching goes!

Stay tuned!

Mindful Stitch Meditation Group-First 6

The first six mindful meditation stitch pieces laid together, going across 1-6, ranging in size from 2"x 2" to 5"x 5". They are made from various fabrics, one with paint, and stitches, and they have taught me so much, plus I learned how to combine stitchery with paint!

Closer up! If you want to see better pictures of them, each piece is featured in its own previous post.

The next piece involves a teabag, another trial inspired by wonderful online artists! Stay tuned!

I'm addicted to yet another art form! Can't wait to do more! 😀

6th Stitch Meditation (with mini oval gelli plate print)

So this is my 6th mindful stitch meditation, and it was so much fun just letting my needle go where it wanted to! The light pink felt backing showed through and gave the white fabric and thread a pinkish tinge, which luckily worked with the piece.

This is a mixed media piece, consisting of cotton fabric scraps and frazzles, embroidery thread, and an abstract acrylic print using my mini gelli plate, which I stitched on and around. The frazzles and thread were left on purpose, because I just love them.

I saw a flower in a vase in the print and stitched around it. I also saw a female figure on the vase, her face at the top right corner, which I debated about stitching, but decided not to. I like the subtlety of her, kind of secret, if you will. 😊

I had been wanting to try gelli printing on cloth for a while, because I have seen some wonderful examples online, and it looked like fun. This gave me a chance to try a small print and combine it with stitching, which I absolutely loved doing, and hopefully I will be doing some larger prints on cloth in the future. I think a fabric book of prints would be wonderful fun to do!

I spent about three short, but awesome, sessions stitching on this piece, just getting lost in the process, letting my mind wander, listening to my favorite music, and I came away much calmer and feeling better about myself, even though I let other stuff go to do it. It was worth it!

Do something you love every day, even if it's only ten minutes. Your soul loves it!

New Gelli Prints on Colored Cardstock and Parchment Papers

Several days ago, before I completely dismantled my studio/dining room for cleaning, de-cluttering, and organizing, I did a quick gelli plate print session with things that were handy, which included my 6" x 6" plate, Golden Open Acrylics, my handmade button stamp, a couple of feathers, a piece of rubber mat, and a brush handle to write with. Cardstock and parchment writing paper, in colors, that I have had for years were the papers of choice this day.

The colored papers didn't come across in their true colors for some reason, and some of the pictures are a bit fuzzy. Sorry! When I get everything back together, hopefully I will be better situated to make better pictures!

I started on a lt colored rosy gray cardstock and printed a solid square, which I intended to  put another layer over, but haven't yet. I have an idea though!

The back of the first print, where, for some reason unknown, I decided to clean off my roller.

 A ghost print of the first print on a darker gray cardstock, where it also picked up some paint from a previous printing, making it interesting.

This parchment writing paper is actually a pale yellow. Don't know what happened, but the print is much prettier on the yellow...

Close up of the print, which I love...

Ghost print on lt blue parchment writing paper of the above print...

More ghost prints of the above prints, and the cardstock is actually a cream color...

Parchment paper, which is actually yellow, and feather print..

More ghost prints on yellow parchment of the print above...

Prints and ghosts, all on the same sheet of lt blue parchment writing paper. I really like this one!

It's a slow go at getting my work space back in order, so I may get very little creative stuff done for a while, but I have so many things that I want to get done. Just praying my eyes don't give completely out on me!

We can't give up!

Photo Inkjet Transfer Trials

So, I'm up a little earlier than usual, and hubby is still sleeping, and I should be installing the new router that the phone company sent us that's supposed to give us better internet within the next few weeks (fingers crossed), but I decided to share a new photo transfer technique that I tried yesterday.

I am sixty-nine years old and have a lot of old photographs myself, but I've recently inherited all of my parents old photographs, and there are so many of family and friends that I would love to use in my art that I've been looking for ways to transfer prints of them into my art projects.

There are numerous video tutorials on youtube, and I've watched several of them, and tried some of them on transferring magazine pages with a gelli plate, but I prefer using my own photos, and I have an inkjet printer. I know laser is better, but also more expensive, and the nearest place to me for laser photocopies is twenty-five miles away, so not too handy about spur of the moment photo projects, where I come across a photo and want to put it on a project immediately.

I found this technique on naysworld's youtube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hcWHzUwCKQ and gave it try. Thank you, naysworld, for sharing!

In the video she used a vinyl notebook divider, but I didn't have one of those, so I improvised. I first tried a soft vinyl sheet used to protect photographs taped to a printer sheet, but it wouldn't feed through the printer. Second try was a plastic folder cover taped to printer paper, but it wouldn't feed through either. Third try was freezer paper taped to printer paper, shiny side up, printer set to glossy photo paper. It went through! Trick, I learned, is to leave the printer paper a tad longer than the other surface, so the feeder can grab hold of it. I used masking tape to hold together. After the freezer paper, I tried the plastic folder cover again, leaving end of the printer paper a bit longer, and it fed right through! Yay!

   

This is an old B/W photo of me, my Granny P, and my doll, Susie, and is one of my favorite photos. I printed it onto the shiny side of freezer paper, in a 5" x 7" size, with a standard ink yield. I had to be really careful taking it out of the printer, turning it over, and laying it down on my journal page, because the ink was beaded up on the glossy paper. It's a journal with mixed media paper, so the image, after I laid it down and rubbed it on the back to transfer it, is a little grainier than I would have wanted, but I did it! Only problem with freezer paper is that it isn't transparent, so you can't see where to put your image. I was only practicing here on journal pages, so it didn't really matter, but if I want to do it on a gelli print, or something, where the image goes onto a specific area, it will matter. So, although, it worked, it will depend on the project as to whether I will use it or not.

I spritzed some water onto the ink leftover on the freezer paper and transferred it to the other page by rubbing. Then I remembered that naysworld said not to rub it, to just press on it. Too late! Anyway, it's interesting!

PS: My doll's face didn't transfer, because that's where I had masking tape to hold the papers together to print. It printed onto the masking tape, but then wouldn't transfer to my journal page. :/

Since I had only used half the sheet of freezer paper, I turned it around, set the printer to 4" x 6" with a high yield. on glossy paper, and moved the tape on the side so it wouldn't blot out my doll's face, and printed and transferred to the journal page. Better, but still grainier than I want. I also forgot to just press, and not rub, to transfer the leftover ink to the other page. I think I spritzed this one a bit too much, but it's still interesting.

After reasonable success with the freezer paper, I decided to try the vinyl folder cover again. I taped it to the printer paper, leaving about 1/4" of printer paper longer than the vinyl, and this time it fed right through! I made sure the tape edges were all down good before feeding, so the tape wouldn't get stuck in the printer roll and cause big problems. Painters tape might be better, but I didn't have any.

Anyway, again the ink was beaded up on the slick surface after printing, and I carefully removed the vinyl from the printer paper, laid it down on a gelli print that I had previously made, and wasn't too happy with, rubbed the back good, and pulled it up. This time, because the vinyl is transparent, I could see where to place the image. Perhaps, not the best background for it, but I like how it came out.

Again, I spritzed the leftover ink on the vinyl and transferred to a journal page. This time I remembered to press, not rub! I like it!

I used an old photo of my mom when she was about sixteen. Not happy with the gelli print background colors, but it's ok for practice purposes, and I do need more practice, but for now, I think I did ok with my experimental play, and it can still be used in a collage or something.

Since inkjet ink is not permanent, and will smear, especially if it gets wet, I sprayed all of these trials with an acrylic sealer to help protect them.

I had fun trying this technique. Still not quite what I wanted, but interesting, and worth knowing. Now to find a way to print on regular paper and transfer it. I'm wondering about glossy photo paper, only it's not transparent either. Hmmmmm....

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!

Jan 17 Gelli Prints

I am in somewhat of a creative slump at the moment. My workspace is in more disarray than usual as I'm trying to clean and organize it, and it's a slow process, because I have so much crammed into such a small space. I barely have room to turn around, a tiny space on my table to work in, can't find anything I want to work with, and it's very frustrating. It will, however, work out at some point!

I did a little de-cluttering in the spare bedroom this week and I did a little gelli printing today with my 5" x 7" plate, open media acrylics, speedball printmaking paper, and some end pieces cut from other prints. The prints are all one layer monoprints and some of the bookmarks have two layers. I used a palette knife to apply the paint this time.
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These bookmark beginnings actually came at the end of the session. Some were used to clean off the plate, and some were printed from paint added to the plate. They are printed on both sides, but I forgot to take pictures of the backs. I will show both sides after embellishments and writing/text is added.

Sorry these look a bit fuzzy. I am having eye problems, and some days I see better than others. The last print is on a sheet of regular printer paper, and was used to clean the plate.

Dental appointment tomorrow. NOT looking forward to it! I do, however, look forward to my next paint slinging appointment. :)

Have an awesomely creative week!

Jan 14 Gelli Prints

Today would have been my parents 70th wedding anniversary, and although my head wasn't really into playing with my art, I played with my 5" x 7" gelli plate, open media acrylics, and Speedball printmaking paper for a little while. These are all multiple layers, and I used a plastic doily, a paper lace doily, a stencil, a feather tip, and a cotton swab, and on part of them I tried a layer of white. The white wasn't the smartest move, but it did give them kind of a foggy, misty, look.

Not really happy with most of these, but they are what they are, and will be used in some compacity at some point in my creative journey. So it's all good!

Pendents, Keyrings, and a Bookmark Experiment

I finished up the pendent tray kits I had ordered this week. I still had some thumbnail prints of my original art on good matte photo paper from the first twenty-three I made (see previous post) for Christmas gifts, including one for myself and one for hubby.

These have been glued to the glass domed cabochons with Diamond Glaze and left to dry. Some have not been trimmed to size yet. This time I sealed BOTH sides of the print, and the metal tray, before gluing anything together. Although, the first ones I made seem to be okay, I just wanted to be on the safe side this time. I'm still learning!

These have been glued into the trays with the Diamond Glaze and left to dry. It's almost impossible to keep from getting some glue on the glass, at least it is for me, so, when all is dry, I will use a bit of alcohol to clean the glue off, and attach the necklace chains and keyrings, and they will be ready for small gifts as I need them. They will also make good purse jewelry or tree ornaments, etc.

This set includes gelli plate prints/monotypes, mandalas, paintings, and a quirky doodle sketch painting, and they are done in open media acrylics, inktense watercolor, and mixed-media.

These are about an inch in size, and I love them, but I'm looking forward to doing some larger pieces, maybe a couple of inches in size. I'm trying to decide on the style and colors I want, and I have a hard time making up my mind about anything. :/

Front and Back

I have a stack of end papers that I have cut off of larger prints, so after a gelli plate printing session the other day, I cleaned off my plate with some of them, thinking they might make good bookmarks. 

This last week, I decided to do a trial run with one. I added a few marks to the front in black gel pen, let it dry while I cut a piece of laminate, then lay the paper on the laminate and pressed it down. Only then did I notice the plain white, paint smudged, ugly back, that I had meant to do something about before I stuck it down. It happened that I had another print the exact same size, so I used Diamond Glaze glue to glue it to the back of the first print, and tried to get it smoothed out and dry. I also used a heat gun a bit to speed up drying. I hoped it was dry and adhered the other piece of laminate to the back, pressed good, trimmed to size, and punched a hole in the top for embellishing with beads, tassels, etc. Next time I'll print both sides of the paper! Much easier!

This one was only a trial, mostly to learn what "not to do". The next ones will have embellishments on the top and some words/writing added. Stay tuned to see what I come up with! 

Happy creating, whatever your activity of choice!