Gelli Plate Meets Fine Art – Monoprinting Ideas for Art Lovers
Old paintings are full of nuances and flow that we often don’t see when focusing on the subject only. This week, I am a rebel and use a Gelli plate for bringing up those elements. The Gelli Plate, like any mono-printing tool, is a bit clumsy for adding details. But also full of potential because you can easily produce repeated motifs that are not exactly similar. It enables you to add diversity and uplifting rhythm to your art without extra efforts.
Gelli Plate Meets Fine Art – Watch the Video!
This video is a replay of a live broadcast where I am sharing my secrets about the process.
I also include the images and the summary here in this blog post so that you can more easily refer back to these instructions.
Project 1 – Expressive Portrait on White Background
Supplies: Gelli Plates (mine are 8 x 10 and 3 x 5 inches), watercolor paper, brayer, brushes, any blunt stick, acrylic paints, glazing liquid (or gel medium).
This project started by intuitively adding layers with a Gelli plate on a white watercolor paper.
My only intention was to make a mess that has enough diversity so that I could see something appearing.
The big spot looked like woman’s face to me, so I made a stencil by quickly sketching one on paper.
I added more elements and shadows, so that worked one area at the time.
When the big elements were in their places, I changed to a smaller plate and added more details.
Here’s the monoprint before I changed to painting with brushes.
Using Botticelli’s Madonna of the Book as a loose reference, I painted the face and some details with fine brushes and thin layers.
Here’s the close-up of the face. I realized that the eyes look to a bit different direction, but I didn’t want to change that because this piece is called Nostalgia. I think it’s a mixed feeling because then we are admiring the past, but at the same time, being sad that there’s no way to travel back in time.
Here’s the full painting again.
Do you like this one? The original piece is for sale in my shop!
Project 2 – Floral Still-Life on Black Background
This piece started by adding a layer of black gesso on a watercolor paper. I had a clear goal from the very beginning – to create a floral still-life honoring Dutch Golden Age paintings from the 17th century. I also wanted to use Gelli plates only and see if it’s possible to create a detailed piece by mono-printing only.
The first layers were very subtle and translucent. The idea is to build depth by slowly increasing the brightness of the mono printed layers.
Like in the previous project, many layers only had few elements. I like how detailed they look when adding lines with the stick on the plate.
I also made a paper stencil for this project. At this point, I changed to a smaller plate.
I used paler and darker tones of pink to make a flower. It’s also handy to stamp the same flower several times.
Dots and splashes of paint all add up. I also like to use cotton cloth for making a sharp edge to a free-form shape.
When using a little too much paint, it forms “skins” that look like intricate leaves. It was also fun to add a surface pattern to a vase.
I used dark browns and black to tone down some elements, and white to highlight others.
Here’s one of my favorite details:
Another one, showing how the vase glows.
Here’s the finished piece in full size:
What next?
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Coming Up: Fine Art Monoprinting!
I am running a free live broadcast Gelli Plate Meets Fine Art on Wednesday, May 23, 9 AM BST (London), 6 PM AEST (Sydney). This session is for you who loves old paintings from Renaissance to Impressionism but who also likes to play with Gelli plate or other mono-printing tools.
Inspiration from Historical Paintings
Old art is full of nuances and inspiration. I will show you how you can get more out of old masterpieces and apply the lessons to your art too. I will use two pieces as an example of how you can stretch Gelli plate’s limits. The first one has brushwork in addition to printed motifs. The second one is a still life that was made with a Gelli plate only. The pics of this post show some details of them.
Gelli Plate Meets Fine Art – Come Along!
Reserve your spot here: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/gelli-plate
You can watch the replay via the link or here on my blog if you can’t make it.
Colored Pencil Collages – Playing with Color
Fall in love with colored pencils and make the most of your paper stash! I also recommend these classes:
1) Collageland – save time and effort by creating textile-inspiration with pens and paper
2) Inspirational Drawing – for you who wants to say: “I can draw!”
The Fun Process of Colored Pencil Collages
Here’s is an art journal page that started as a sad one. First, it only had some carelessly drawn lines. Months went by before it got some paint to accompany the doodles. After another long wait, it got some depth with colored pencils. It still looked unhappy, so I glued a piece of hand-decorated paper to cheer it up. Today, I found it again and was surprised how finished it looked.
This is often the way I make art journal pages: little by little, random lines, using up extra paint on the palette, saving a piece of paper from my stash. It’s a very unintentional process but after those finishing touches are added, it’s all good.
My Hand-Decorated Paper Stash
I have been doing this for a long time: making my collage papers and also saving the tiniest pieces. No matter what my main art projects are, there seems to always have time some scrap paper fun even if it’s sometimes just picking a small piece and gluing it on an art journal without analyzing what and why.
Colored pencils are one of my favorite supplies and I also have papers decorated with them. When I go through my paper stash, I often add some colored pencils on painted ones just to make them more valuable in my eyes. Then I also have some true treasures – papers that only have colored pencils on them. They take more time to make, and to me, they are like silk and others are more like cotton, the basic stuff.
Using Imagination with Colored Pencil Collages
When I am playing, odd is good. Paper pieces sometimes have a mind of their own, and strange results may appear! Here’s an art journal page called “Three Sisters”. It started with paper scraps but really came to life when I added colors to the background with colored pencils. See how I used many colors for the background so that it completed the composition and made the piece more cheerful.
This collage started with a quite traditional idea. I wanted to make a doll. But when the doll got more heads, I followed the imagination instead of trying to stick with the original thought.
Start with the Expressive Background!
Create Step by Step!
Try this process if you often ponder these questions:
a) what to put in the background?
b) how to express with color?
In this process, you will start with the background so that it creates a structure for the rest of the work. A grey paper enables you to use color for expression rather than trying to tone down a screaming scene when using only “beautiful” tones.
Supplies: Grey Paper, Colored Pencils, Paper Scraps
You will also need gel medium or paper glue for attaching the collage pieces, and a black drawing pen for finishing touches.
Step 1 – Coloring Freely
With white and dark grey (or black) colored pencils doodle random shapes. Fill some shapes by drawing, add shading, and have fun by playing with color values. Change the orientation once in a while so that your imagination keeps on going.
Step 2 – Cut Tiny Collage Pieces
The pieces for this step can be really small ones, and you can cut them even smaller. Here’s one piece from my stash and I cut a smaller shape out of it!
Don’t worry about the composition yet, just cut so many small pieces that you have a collection to choose from.
Step 3 – Add Some Light and Shadows to Collage Pieces
With the white and dark grey (or black) pencils, add some shadowing around the edges and some highlights with white. All the pieces don’t necessarily need this but it makes solid-colored pieces look much more interesting.
Step 4 – Glue the Collage Pieces
Use the background as a support structure and an inspiration source for your collage! If you have problems with composition, go through my free mini-course Loosen Up and follow the tips there!
Step 5 – Add More Color with Colored Pencils
This step integrates your collage pieces with the background.
Step 6 – Draw Final Details with a Drawing Pen
Add some loose lines and dark details with a black drawing pen.
Here’s my finished piece, a fantasy creature!
Some Papers Last Longer than Others
I intended to cut some motifs out of this paper but maybe next time. Too precious for now! It’s inspired by Collageland.
Create Handmade Collage Art to Build Your Visual Dreamland – Buy Collageland!
Discover Your Style by Building Your Visual Dreamland!
This week, I talk about how you can change your mindset so that you really feel like you are heading towards the style that fits you. I show examples of my work and share how I have built my visual dreamland. I also tell more about the new class Collageland. Watch the replay of Thursday’s live broadcast!
Visual Dreamland – Watch the Recording!
Collageland is a class for you who loves decorative textiles but wants to save time and effort by creating with pens and paper. Rather than trying to succeed and capture your style through a single project, start exploring your creativity as a process, designing your visual dreamland one stroke at a time! >> Buy Collageland!
Coming Up!
Next week, there will be a written blog post! If you haven’t yet, subscribe to my weekly emails so that you won’t miss the blog posts and there’s also a bonus – a free mini-course Loosen up!
Subscribe to my weekly emails – Get a free mini-course!