London Calling

Here I am in London at Cousin Anne's house and she has this beautiful painting on her wall, she commissioned Claire Wright to create it based on her wallpaper.

On Wednesday we went into London to the Tate Britain art gallery.

Today, we went to Hobby Craft and then to Bluewater, which is the largest shopping centre/mall I've ever been to - it's huge.  I looked at all these gorgeous papers but couldn't find any stencils.  I had a yummy chicken and chorizo salad at Leon's....

Hubby has collected the bike from Felixstowe and tomorrow we are going to check out a motorcycle accessory store tomorrow to see if they have any touring clothes for me - cheaper and better range over here.

All is well here, hope you are creating some great art wherever in the world you are.

Shells' Sunday Snippets

I'm joining in with {tinniegirl} for  {sunday snippets} a collection of photos from your week. no need for words. let the pictures tell your story.

Our bags are packed and we are ready for our European Bike Trip and leave on Tuesday morning! So no art from me for a while but lots of travel photos and adventures.

Gelli Print Business Cards

Love making gelli prints? Thinking about selling your art? Strapped for cash? No time to order some more business cards?

Then why not make some of your own gelli print business cards.

I use cardstock for my business cards....

1. Use a word document program for the words on the back.

Tips - Do a practice test on normal photocopying paper to make sure your spacing is correct.  Insert your cardstock into your printer so it prints out straight. 

2.  Make a great print.

Tips - try to cover all of your paper with paint so there is no wastage.

Here's the one I used for demo purposes:

 You may wish to varnish them at this stage too or wait until you have cut your cards if you wish to add any further decoration/paint.

3. Cut out your cards:

Tips - use another business cards to get the right size, use a paper cutter or craft knife and steel ruler to cut your cards straight.  I had a round corner trimmer that I used to make my corners round.

4.  Hand out your business cards:

Tips - if you have a booth or a market stall then offer people a selection of cards to choose from, to interested people I say "Pick a card, any card, every card's a winner!"  or "Would like a little piece of my art to take home with you?"

There you go...Hope you are having fun making your gelli prints.  Here are some more of my blogs about my gelli art.

ETA:
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. This group is open to people who use a Gelli Arts Plate or who make their own gelatin plate.

Art Sale at Myattsfield Vineyard

Had a great weekend selling my paintings, pendants and Gelli Art prints at Myattsfield Vineyard.  The weather was glorious which encouraged hundreds of people to come to the Bickley Harvest Festival to view the scarecrows, art, crafts and sample the extremely yummy wine.

I love speaking to people about my paintings and my latest addiction of Gelli Art printing.  Whilst I didn't sell any paintings I received lots of encouraging, positive feedback and my artwork was seen by loads of people including children who loved my fishies, my butterfly painting, the bright confetti trees and a little boy was fascinated with my snail painting - he stood there looking at it with his arm in the air tracing the spirals of the nautilus shell. Too cute.

I have plenty of pendants left over and will upload them to the blog and Facebook so if you want to buy any of them then please get in contact with me to sort out the details.

 

Well, I must go and unpack my car and do some boring housework.  Many thanks to all my family and friends who came along and to all the people who took the time to view my art and have a chat with me.  Hope your weekend went well, take care.

Here are some more of my blogs about my gelli art.

Gelli Print Flowers

I've made some gelli art print flowers- which flower is your favourite?:

Here are some more of my blogs about my gelli art.

ETA:
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. This group is open to people who use a Gelli Arts Plate or who make their own gelatin plate.

What To Do With Gelli Prints

Wondering what to do with your gelli prints?  I've been searching for ideas from other blogs and artists and Pinterest.

1.  Start by buying some frames and framing them, the mat around the print finishes it off cleanly.

2. Add some meaningful words:

3. Bookmarks and Tags:

Mine are sticking together which may be due to the humidity or the glossy paint so if anyone has any suggestions as how to get them not to stick I would love to hear from you.  Transparent gesso???

Love the dressform shape, top right, I even bought some lace to glue on.  :D

4. Collage - which was the original purpose that I bought the gelli plate for - so I could make my own papers to use in collage that weren't ones under copyright.

Make a heap of textured backgrounds:

a) Landscape scenes:

Ripped/Torn:

Scissors:

Abstract/strips:

Hundertwasser's Red Streets was the inspiration for these:

I love Hundertwasser's use of colour and houses - he would say my houses and streets are too straight...and where are your lollipop trees??? Stayed tuned.....

b) Cards:

I started to print directly onto the cards but I was getting paint on the inside of the card due to messy hands so with the two below I glued the background onto the card then added the shapes and a little more detail is going to be added with paint pens.

c) Altered Playing Cards

These are a lot of work - each card needs to be sanded and gessoed before being glued/collaged and I need to decide if I'm going to put in one hinge ring in the top right corner or two in book style.  Then I need to decide/know do I sell the whole deck at once for one price or break them down into suites.

Well, I've had a lot of fun this week preparing for the Bickley Harvest Festival on 4th and 5th May where I'll be selling my paintings, pendants and prints and tags and cards at Myattsfield Vineyard.  I'm still unsure of prices, even more so after a sales lady said I'd be lucky to get $2 for my prints as she has trouble getting people to pay $1.60 for scrapbooking paper! Confidence shattered after talking to her but she only saw pics from my iphone and I think she may have thought that I was asking her to sell them. After this experience I read an excellent blogpost by Leonie Dawson on How to work out pricing for what you sell.  I'm still unsure of prices even though I've checked out Etsy - not a lot of gelli prints for sale (some 6in squares for $45, I was thinking a lot less for mine), whilst they don't take long to create there is a lot of other time that has gone into making them such as research, education and making and buying tools.  If you have any idea of pricing then please let me know.

I think we are all caught up - I really should post after each arty session but I just haven't had time lately.  Thank you for reading, have a great weekend and stay safe. Love and hugs.

Here are some more of my blogs about my gelli art.

ETA:
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. This group is open to people who use a Gelli Arts Plate or who make their own gelatin plate.