Happy Holidays!

Gel print on Pescia paper
using acrylic and iridescent paints 
and enhanced with gel pen work
 

 

Accordion Fold Mini-Book

 

I love to make prints with various gel plates. Recently, looking at 3" square prints in 9" x 12" Mixed Media paper commercial coil books I had an idea that I could fold a page into a little booklet.

This is one page with a black line showing the way I cut it to use all the images:

Printmaking with Natural Materials and Open Acrylics

 

After ordering some Golden OPEN acrylics, I had a fun session testing them out.

Materials

3” square mini gel plate

The end of an orange

Leaves

Flower blossoms with stems

Golden OPEN acrylics

Mixed media papers—7” x 10” and 9” x 12”

Previously I had used craft, heavy bodied, fluid, and high flow acrylic paints. But the consistency of the OPEN acrylics seems very well suited for gel printing. You don’t need to use a lot of paint, especially on the little plate.

 

I made many square grids on the papers. Once I got the hang of it, I was happy to see I could make some ghost prints. As the flower blossoms absorbed more paint, they created lovely imprints and outlines.

I live in a humid city, made more so with the recent rains. The OPEN properties keep the acrylic paints from drying so quickly and you have more time to set up your prints.

Printmaking, Oh Printmaking

 

Seems like every weekend I’ve been printmaking and creating piles of prints. There is the good, the not so good, and the downright ugly. Some need more work. Some might like gel pens or colored pencils on them. Some that I use to clean the plate with are almost as interesting as the ones I carefully compose.

Printmaking is a lot work before and after. Prep work to get papers ready, a space cleared, paints selected, a work surface to work on, a place to put all the prints you finish. Then, it takes quite a while to clean your tools—stencils, masks, palette knives, bone folders. It’s been a time-saver to wear gloves!

 

Experimenting with different papers, as usual. Computer paper, card stock, various types of greeting cards, watercolor paper, mixed-media paper, printmaking paper. You need a lot of paper. Printmaking paper is so dreamy that I’d like to make an entire journal with prints from it. I have some on hand in both tan and light blue and could begin using the folios for printing and only bind it as a book when all the pages are done.

Mixed media paper is quite good also. Shelley Rhodes great tip of carefully snipping papers from coil books has been helpful but I also rip it out when I need More Paper NOW! Interestingly, the snipped or ripped pages both readily return to the book. I like that some brands feature a front cover that is as sturdy as the back.

Some artists don’t completely clean the paint off their plate before changing colors and actually like the gungy remains. I tried doing that with these three prints. You can see some yellow ochre paint coming through earlier prints. At first, I didn’t quite like it but have come around to see the beauty in its messy imperfections.

 

 

Drying Area for Gel Prints

I have doing lots of printmaking lately. There are so many inspirational videos from the various commercial gel plate brands and their artists. But what I haven’t seen much of is where to put prints when they are wet.

From the first time I used gelatin up to now, the room I was working in was always full of prints drying wherever there was a surface—couches, chairs, folding card tables, the floor! There had to be a better way since now I don’t have space in the living room because my work computer is set up there. My friend Nancy and I discussed various options and I set about trying one. She suggested rigging a rope from wall to wall and using clips.

I had lots of frame wire on hand and with a quick trip to the grocery store had some light weight wood clothes pins. On the walls, I screwed in medium hooks. On the wire, I made a loop at each end. I spaced out the clothespins with some wood beads to give the prints space.

It turned out pretty good. I like that it is portable and I can take it down.

Gel Printmaking

I had a blast playing with my new 5" x 7" Gel Press plate, craft paints, ink, punched circles and rings! Although I have a large size plate, I was curious about the versatility of making smaller pieces. The small plate is perfect to use on left over pieces of paper, inside handmade or commercial journals, and even on card stock or computer paper. The compact size also offers the ability to use the plate as a stamp.

This print includes waterproof ink, which broke up the craft paint.

Printmaking with Book and Calendar Transfers on a Gel Plate

Loved the idea on the Gelli Arts blog that shows the imperfect experiments of Birgit. She used various magazine and book images to transfer an image on the plate and, once dried, pulled a print. Other artists have jumped on the idea and have shared their results.

Yesterday, tried it. Since Birgit mentioned she didn’t have much luck with heavy bodied acrylics, I went out and bought some craft acrylics. But, I had no luck with them and on my third try, I switched to my favorite Liquitex heavy bodied acrylics and had my first success.

98 lb. Strathmore Mixed Media paper 

Although I had a huge stack of possible magazine and book images to try, I stuck with what was working—black & white, high contract images from a photo book about John F. Kennedy.

140 lb. Fabriano Artistico hot press watercolor paper

140 lb. Fabriano Artistico hot press watercolor paper

Before stopping, I used some smaller, high contrast calendar images from Susan Boulet (1990 and 1991!) and they turned out well, also.

60 lb. Strathmore Sketch paper

98 lb. Strathmore Mixed Media paper 

Your result may vary. What worked for me:

Images

Lots of contrast of darks and lights

Both black & white and color

Paper

98 lb. Strathmore Mixed Media paper (from the coil-bound Vision pad)

140 lb. Fabriano Artisitico hot press watercolor paper

Paint

Liquitex heavy bodied professional acrylic paint

Some Golden fluid acrylics-- if mixed with the heavy bodied ones (they dried too quickly)

Techniques

Rub book/magazine image on plate firmly with a brayer and a bone folder

Still curious how and if the craft acrylics might work, how and if other book, calendar, and magazine images might work, how and if other papers might work (especially printmaking ones), I will continue experimenting.

Gelatin Printmaking 303

Mexican Sycamore leaf on cardstock

Why can an artist sometimes be like a fretful dog, pacing around and around, until finally settling down? That's what I felt last Sunday wanting to play with my new Gelli Arts plate--I kept putting it off even though I wanted to experiment.

Mexican sycamore leaf and other small leaf inside, on 140 lb. HP Fabriano Artistico watercolor paper

Finally, I cleared space. Got out some paints, papers, fresh leaves, stencils and masks, brayers, spray bottle. And just started. Although I have done printing on gelatin before (here and here), this time I didn't have to destroy the gelatin.

Mexican sycamore leaf, BFK Rives tan paper

Working on this new re-usable plate is much different than working on unflavored gelatin. Here are some positive things I found from my first experiments with it:

• I could make monoprints with great results by not lifting the paper completely off the plate (I’d be hopeless trying to put the paper back in the exact same location or register
• I could take the plate out anytime you want to play and not have to make the gelatin hours or even the night before
• I was surprised and pleased fluid acrylics worked well (if done quickly and in small areas)
• I could make prints on watercolor paper pages in my handmade and bound journal

Oak leaves, Coventry rag paper

   

There are also some negative results from the plate:  

• I couldn’t pull multiple prints as I could with regular gelatin; the plate seems to suck in paint and transfer it all on the first print
• I found my acrylics dried very fast on the plate (I used artists heavy body Liquitex in tube form and Golden fluid acrylics in small bottles); I know this often depends on weather conditions
• I had to stop and clean the plate more frequently because ghost prints on computer paper with a spritz of water did not lift off already-dried acrylics
• I found any ghost prints quite abysmal to non-existent

  

leaves, triple spiral handmade stamp, BFK Rives paper

  

Trying several types of paper, of course, yielded different results. I used 104 lb. BFK Rives printingmaking paper in a tan color, 140 lb. Fabriano Artistico Hot Press watercolor paper, and regular 65 lb. white cardstock.

   

These are just a few links to more information (some with YouTube videos) about playing with either gelatin or the Gelli Arts plate: 

http://printmakingwithoutapress.blogspot.com/

http://artistsjournal.wordpress.com/

http://gelliarts.blogspot.com/

Do a Google search and I’m sure you can find a bunch more.




leaves, triple spiral handmade stamp, fluid acrylics, 140 lb. HP Fabriano Artistico w/c paper

 

So, I’m wondering if using an acrylic retarder--in either a medium or paint form--would help with the very quick drying I experienced.

leaves, triple spiral handmade stamp, fluid acrylics on cardstock



mountain and figure masks, BFK Rives

mountain and figure masks, 140 lb. HP Fabriano Artistico

Even with prints that didn't quite work, I see possibilities for re-working later. With a new tool, you can never know how things are going to turn out. But, that's also the fun of experimenting.

ghost print, 140 lb. HP Fabriano Artistico

ghost print on cardstock
note excess paint from figure mask that stuck

Experimental Journal

Acrylic gelatin print on canvas
9.75” x 11” album cover

Looking through some of my collage and journal-making books, I felt like doing something quite different. I remembered a blank “Just-the-Pieces” album I’d put together with the gelatin print cover. The pages are sturdy black cardstock, intended to hold photographs. Last year,

Andrea Platt demonstrated some wonderful drawings she did on black paper using colored pencils and gel pens and-–YES!—that’s what I decided to try!

Appropriating part of a magazine cover having a wonderful array of blues and greens, I cut and glued that to the first page and began playing with the colored pencils. It is truly amazing how the black page is so utterly different and how it becomes part of the design.

I used green, blue, and white colored pencils with some gold metallic gel pen highlights. Nothing was precise or planned but the squiggles and lines and blips were mark-making of the highest form of fun! It was very relaxing, too, just doodling in different colors and allowing the strong black background speak for itself.

Nature Books, Artists Books, Fake Journals

Spring Splendor (Red Bud Leaves)

Gelatin Print (acrylic on watercolor paper)

9” x 12”

This print was done last summer and seemed appropriate as I continued making pages for a small (4” x 4”) nature book. Inspired by L.K. Ludwig http://gryphonsfeather.typepad.com/the_poetic_eye/ and her book Mixed Media Journals), D. J. Pettit (http://www.djpettitt.blogspot.com/), and Judy Wise (http://judywise.blogspot.com/) , who all spice up their books with fabulous fabric, sewing, photos, drawings, gelatin prints, 3-D items, and so much more, I’ve decided to make a Sampler Book and see just how many materials I can make “pages” from.

Although I haven’t finished pages nor bound it/they (it might be one very fat book with several signatures or several small books with 1 or 2 signatures), I brought some examples for show-and-tell at the beginning of yesterday’s book sewing class. When I showed our instructor, Linda Draper, various cover possibilities (fabric, canvas, leather, etc.), I got some good feedback. All could work for sewing and she also suggested putting a backing on the fabric, such as fusible webbing, that would make the cover and spine stiffer and easier to sew through.

When I asked Linda how she used the books she made, I was surprised to hear her say she did not use them to journal or do art in; some she gave to friends. That had never occurred to me--making a blank book just to make it. Since I've loved books since I was a child, I have expanded my definition from an object to read to an object of art. I love creating travel books or daily painting books or theme books using commercially-made hardbound sketchbooks or spiral watercolor books. I love altering the covers, using different techniques on the papers, trying some different things with different tools. Collecting several types and sizes of blank books, I’m exploring what I like and don’t like, what mediums work or don’t work on various papers. Although I like the idea of Altered Books, I have found the paper very frustrating to work in (acrylics don’t work very well in them) and have yet to complete a single one I’ve started!

Creating more of my own books, I enjoy learning and exploring the form. Here is a simple accordion book I made my sister almost two years ago called “In Praise of Trees.” It has two Davey board covers. The folded pages are one long section of a watercolor sheet; you can see the deckled edge on the top.

I’m tempted to take another bookmaking class this summer. Linda showed us examples from a basic bookbinding one taught by another instructor—a travel book that looks very much like a large Moleskine with elastic band and pocket (although with a lovely green cover and endpapers!), another with a paper cover with stubs and envelopes, and a photo album that allows for expansion when photos are added. One of the latter two had a wonderful paper cover with a strip of other paper cut and woven through it with signature sewings showing.

Since I love to keep a journal for writing and for art and for everything in between, I began my fake journal this week, jumping in with others inspired by Roz Stendahl's International Fake Journal Month. For now, I’m holding off revealing details or art in the journal, to keep the creative fuels burning. I will say that I’m really surprised at the medium I chose and how this fake persona is being revealed to me each time I open the special little journal. So much fun!

Getting Noticed, Getting Rejected

Dancing Green Man

acrylic on paper

8" x 7"

Last week, I received an e-mail from an art instructor wanting to use some of my gelatin prints in his alternative printmaking workshops around the country. Dean Ebben had found my blog and liked the experiments done on different surfaces.

So, I’m preparing an artist biography as well as some .jpgs of my prints. I am really floored that my work will be seen along his and other big names in the printmaking field.

Earlier in the month, an online map company--Schmap--approached me through my Flickr site, short-listing a photo I’d taken in Killarney. Although I wasn’t able to reply in time, I was flattered and flabbergasted how opportunities appear when people locate you online.

In both instances, neither offer had any monetary offerings but would give me full credit and allow my work to be seen by a larger audience. That made me feel that perhaps the Universe was telling me I’m on the correct path and to keep creating. It’s pretty amazing since I’ve only put my art online since May.

Joseph Campbell said “…follow your bliss and don’t be afraid, and doors will open where you didn’t know they were going to be.” When I first highlighted that sentiment in The Power of Myth with Bill Moyers (p. 120), it applied to my writing. Now, it applies to my visual art.

As a sensitive, shy person I have very mixed feelings about showing and possibly selling my works. There’s one side that dearly wants to be accepted and acknowledged while the other side wishes to remain withdrawn and retiring.

While all this attention was happening, I entered three acrylic paintings in the local watercolor juried exhibit. Only one didn’t make the cut but it's my favorite and, what I think, my best work to date. Rationally, I know it’s a matter of taste from the juror, one person’s opinion, but that hurt!

So, is the Universe giving me a mixed message? Or will this rejection be the stimuli to enter other contests or even prepare works for selling at Etsy?

How do you deal with attention, selling, or getting rejected?

As the week closed, and I received an insightful critique (thanks, Steve!) on why the painting might have been rejected, I feel less bruised now and more philosophic. I realize I’ve come a long way. Having more courage with my art than my writing, I have progressed beyond shyness to show, exhibit, and blog. By risking rejection, I have won by just submitting. Having two out of three paintings in the last two annual juried exhibits is something to be proud of.

So, it’s time to find a different venue for my painting and time to think of the future.

Autumn Leaf

acrylic on paper

9" x 12"

***************************************************

I’ve continued playing in paint with various strings, ribbons, and pieces of jute.

As an experiment, I’ve made ghost prints in my journal. Taking the remaining acrylic paint from my brayer, I roll the excess onto a hardbound sketchbook of 70 lb. smooth paper. The prints have turned out very well but I was afraid the acrylic paint would stick together, especially on a two-page spread. I’m so pleased it hasn’t. In addition, the pages haven’t wrinkled either, in sharp contrast to using water soluble crayons or pencils with water.

Roll, brayer, roll!