Gelli Print Rock Stacks

After I saw this video by Jane Davies - Gel Plate Shapes - I was so inspired I just had to try this for myself.

I cut out the shapes out of old cereal boxes and used more earthy colours - Micaceous Iron Oxide, which is a sparkly grey colour, raw umber, burnt sienna, paynes grey, transparent iron oxide, quinacridone nickel azo gold and phalo turquoise to name a few.  A different colour palette to my usual one.

The painting above I printed onto watercolour paper so I could use watercolour paints for the background. The prints below are on art journal paper.  I used scrunched up deli/tissue/greaseproof paper and saran/cling/glad wrap to create the textures.

I really love how some of these rocks turned out.

And here's me in Scotland last August building a rock stack....

PS  Do you love creating gelli prints?  Want a place to discuss gelli printing?  To show off your work?  Share your ideas? Discuss the pros and cons of different paints/paper/plates/tools etc?  Get some great ideas on what to do with the thousands of prints you have created?

Then I would love you to join me at the Gelatin Printing Enthusiasts Facebook Group.

The PaperLove Blog Hop

I love paper.  I love to pick up old books and smell the pages.  These are the two old books that I own.

Whilst in Berlin in July 2013 I popped into a store looking for pens and found these beautiful sheets of paper and swooned and sighed - we have nothing like this in Perth, Australia - I wanted to buy one of each for my collection.

 When I first started creating my mixed media girls a few years ago I fell in love with scrapbooking paper.  Those 12 inch square sheets are beautiful works of art. I have a large boxful of yummy goodness - some I can't use because they are simply too pretty and were bought because I just had to have that beauty in my house.  When I go to the local scrapbooking supplies shop I just lose track of time when I'm in there - looking and touching the textured sheets.  Here are a few...

These days I use my gelli plate to create my own original papers to use for my mixed media girls clothes/hair/hats. I use whatever paper I can find on the gelli plate - old map books, old dictionaries and books, greaseproof/deli and tissue paper as well as cardstock and art journal paper. It would be awesome to see some of my gelli prints turned into scrapbooking paper or large sheets of paper.

 

I loved paper and gelli printing so much that I created the Gelatin Printing Enthusiasts FaceBook group to meet others who feel the same way.

The PaperLove Blog Hop is a celebration of all things paper! Follow the links to discover more bloggers who love paper and use it to inspire and delight. And if you want to explore a whole world of paper, and stretch your paper passion further with a host of creative projects, why not join the innovative new online course PaperLove (starts March 31). Led by book artist Rachel Hazell, PaperLove is a five week creative adventure for paper lovers. Find out more here.

Participant list:

Majo Bautista / Tona Bell / Louise Best / Cathy Bluteau / Jennifer Bomgardner / Giova Brusa / Lindsay Buck / Beka Buckley / Joanna Caskie / Jonathan Chapman (Mr Yen) / Halle Cisco / Sarah Clare / Cathryn Clarge / Dawn Clarkson / Rhiannon Connelly / Jenny D'Fuego / Molly Dhiman / Ian Dudley / Ayisatu Emore / Akmal Farid / Monika Forsberg / Claire Fritz-Domeney / Louise Gale / Chrissy Gaskell / Julie Hamilton / Emma Hawman / Rachel Hazell / Holly Helgeson / Claudine Hellmuth / Kim Henkel / Sarah Hoffman / Joanne Hus / Paula Joerling / Beth Kempton / Julie Kirk / Eos Koch / Katie LaClair / Kristy Lankford / Michelle Manolov / Doreen Marts / Rosie Martinez-Dekker / Tori Mears / Maria Mederios / Lise Meijer / Debbie Miller / MaryJane Mitchell / Suzy Naidoo / Grace Noel / Hannah Nunn / Camilla Olsson / Jo Packham / Rachelle Panagarry / Monette Pangan / Melanie Paul / Nicole Piar / Jen Pitta / Liz Plummer / Julie Reed / Michelle Reynolds / Lisa Rivas / Angee Robertson / Natalie Ryan / Aisling Ryan / Elisabet Sapena / Kyrrha Sevco / Jamie Sprague / Elizabeth Steele / Terri Stephens / Juniper Stokes / Mary Tanana / Maike Thoma / Linda Tieu / Gabrielle Treanor / Tammy Tutterow / Deborah Velasquez / Jordan Vinograd Kim / Cat Whipple / Brooke Witt / Katie Wood / Amelia Woodbridge

Reflections on 2013

Well, 2013 is all but over so let's have a look back at the year.

My One Little Word for the year was Believe:

- The highlight of my art year was having five paintings exhibited at a gallery and selling one of them!

- I hosted BlogtoberFest 2013 and managed to blog every day along with a hundred or so others!!!

 - The lowlight of the year when it came to my art was when I lost belief in myself in May when I had a booth/stall at a vineyard and a young lady said "this art (she was referring to my layered paintings) is so easy to make"......I know I shouldn't be so sensitive but there's a lot more to this than I'm saying...

 - the highlight of my year was travelling through Europe on a motorbike with my husband for three months!!!

- my favourite art tool in 2013 was hands down no contest and if you can't guess then this must be your first time reading my blog.....my gelli plate - I love it so much I made a facebook group so I had a community with which to share with - The Gelatin Printing Enthusiasts Facebook Group.

- Whilst travelling I doodled and coloured in and zentangled and mandalaed too:

Well, I had a great year and I hope yours was great too!

Arty Postcards

I wanted to share with you some of the arty postcards that I bought whilst overseas recently.

England

Hi from London! Whilst hubby is packing our bags, I am blogging before we leave for the airport later this afternoon for our long flight home.

We left Wales on Tuesday, 27th August, heading south east through Somerset to Porlock to catch up with a friend of hubby's. The friend's we had stayed with the previous night had recommended some places to visit along the way including Dunster Castle - a Norman castle built in the 11th and 12th centuries, and Selworthy Green which has four thatched cottages, one is a tea room which has fabulous cakes which we didn't try as we had just had lunch.

On Wednesday, 28th August we travelled back to Cousin Anne's house just south of London, stopping at Tarr Steps which is a medieval clapper bridge - it has 17 spans of stone slabs, we also drove past Stonehenge!!!

Thursday/Friday/Saturday - we just sorted out washing and the bike and returned it to the docks in Felixstowe where it will be packed into a sea container and sent home next week.

On Sunday, 1st September, after watching the MotoGP we went to Chartwell House which was Sir Winston Churchill and his wife Clementine's country home since 1922. It has beautiful views of the countryside being in an elevated position, beautiful gardens, a play house for their daughter and an artist's studio as Churchill took up oil painting when he was 40!!!

 

On Monday, 2nd September we went to visit Rochester where my husband was born - it has a very interesting castle and a very large cathedral.

On Tuesday, 3rd September we went to Greenwich, just a couple of miles out of London and famous for Greenwich Mean Time - we went to the National Maritime Museum, the Royal Observatory, the Queen's House (which is an art museum) and then to visit the Cutty Sark.

On Wednesday 4th and Thursday 5th September we went into London to the Victoria and Albert Museum, Buckingham Palace - saw the changing of the guard and to the theatre to see the musical Mama Mia.

On Friday, 6th September we went to Canterbury and had lunch with hubby's aunt.

Yesterday, Saturday, 7th September we went to Richmond, a suburb south west of London to catch up with my friend Jane and visit Hampton Court.

Well, that's it from me and 'boring' you with my vacation snaps I'll be back to my art in a few weeks after I've sorted out the washing and the house and photos and ordered more paints and canvases etc...

Hope you're having a great weekend, take care.