Gelli prints

There was a time I used to do a lot more Gelli prints - I was using them in Documented Life Project visual journals. At some point in my life, I moved away from that. But I still keep a journal. And I still use the DLP calendar templates. And I print on the reverse side. Each month, inspired by something different. I don't have dozens of templates, but I have enough (from Stencil Girl Products) that I can add variety to my prints, without a huge time investment. After all, my journals are just for me. But I want them to look good all the same!

Gelli prints

Some days all you want to do is a few Gelli prints with ready-made stencils.

Iris stencil gelli prints

Social distancing is hard. And I keep telling myself I will have more time for my art. But it doesn't seem that way. I'm busy checking on friends and family, making sure everybody is all right. 

I really can't complain, though. I have a loving husband, an adorable dog, and a slightly-less-crazy-than-he-used-to-be cat. My husband is doing the shopping - I have an underlying condition, nothing too serious, but you can't be too careful. And I did manage to finally buy a small bottle of sanitising hand gel. I wanted to buy two, but the answer was no. 

Thankfully we have one bottle of Dettol spray, and we've used some of it to clean the bin handles after the refuse collection today. I would be a lot happier if we had an extra bottle, but the shops can't keep up. In fairness, my husband got most of what was on our shopping list - there was no eggs, and none of the anti-bacterial stuff, but most everything else was available. I wonder at what point will we notice that the fruit and vegetables, which come mostly from Italy and Spain, start disappearing from the shelves?

Lucky also to have a wonderful yoga studio who are offering online classes. I did a class last night and it helped me put all this craziness away for an hour. I slept like a baby afterwards. If you're interested, here is the link to sign up: Yoga Soul Academy. It's good value. The teachers are amazing, warm and caring. And it's better than a YouTube video, as you can chat with the teacher and students before the class - an important social element for me! But you can also do the classes on your own after the broadcast day.

And of course, art. Not doing as much as I thought I would. But I'll get into a rhythm, eventually!

Here are a few Gelli prints. Using a stencil. Such a relaxing thing to do!

Image resists with Gelli plate

When painting isn't going well, or when I don't have enough time, I always go back to monoprinting! So I've continued to explore the image resist technique from the Gelli Arts blog. This time, I've gone for a larger format (the American equivalent to A4, slightly smaller than A4, what's it called again?), and it was quite hard to do. I found that if I pressed too much when applying the magazine onto the inked plate, the image didn't transfer at all, so it's a matter of a light touch for that stage of the process. Also, I found that some magazines I had didn't work at all. What worked best for me were old Boden catalogues. I don't receive them anymore. Just as well I kept some of my favourite pages!! I wonder if they still do them or have they gone completely digital? So if anyone out there still has their old Boden catalogues, send them to me!!

Gelli print and Stazon for image resist

I've been trying to do image transfers many times in the past, but without much success. I've recently come across a new technique from Gelli Arts's Birgit Koopsen, and I'm delighted with the results! So exciting! It works really well with magazine photos, and in a small format. I've tried a few with my bigger Gelli plate, but the result wasn't so good - maybe the paint was drying too quickly? The magic ingredient is Stazon ink pads! I'm really looking forward to trying on some more. I can't believe I recently threw away lots of old magazines during a Marie Kondo clearout. I still have some nice pages that I will practise with when I next get a chance. But I might have to buy new magazines!

More gelli prints

Another few examples of recovered Gelli prints. Gelli prints are great when I don't have enough time for other art pursuits. It's quick and creative at the same time!

Combining sketches on one page

I don't carry my big A4 book with me everywhere, obviously. So when I sketch in a smaller book, it's hard to keep track of when things happened. So I heard somewhere the idea of adding those sketches into the big book. I quite like that!

When Gelli prints don't quite work out

I love monoprinting with a Gelli plate. But like everything else, if you don't practise your craft for a while, the results can be disappointing. So, what do I do? I play some more!

with stamps (over the rolled painted from the brayer, onto print paper)

with stencils, a make-up sponge and acrylic paint

and the same stencil in a matching colour over a ghost print that had too much white in it

or I cover most of the print with extra paint, and then stencil a contrasting colour

and if it really didn't work out, cover most of the print with a layer of plain colour, and use another stencil to apply paint with a different pattern

Take to the waves

A little affirmation card made from a Gelli print (Affirmation from The Little Book of Calm, Stencil by StencilGirlProducts)

Gelli prints

It's a while since I did any Gelli printing. But I was quite busy and that was a good way to fit a little bit of art into my days! I worked with premade stencils and it was great fun. I had forgotten how relaxing Gelli printing is!