Saturday, July 5, 2014

monoprinting / Gelli plate class preparations

It's been a long time since I've posted! The year was a quiet one with a time for allowing ideas to percolate. I'm so glad I gave myself that time, never pushing, the intent only to uncover and discover.

One of the most fruitful processes I got involved with during this time was doing mono prints with both a gelatin plate and the Gelli plate by Gelli Arts. I have always loved the unpredictable things that can happen with mono printing and using a gelatin type plate for printmaking satisfied that "anything can happen" way of working. 

Now I'm a complete convert, obsessed with pulling prints and continually finding surprises. There's something so satisfying about just pulling the prints, regardless of what happens to them afterwards.

All of this playing has lead to some wonderful things. One was to be introduced by my good art friend Meg Turner, to collage artist Alexandra Sheldon. She has been teaching collage and related arts at her Cambridge studio for quite a while. With our mutual interests in collage, mixed media and paper arts, we realized it would be exciting and fun to bring in a new element with the Gelli plate from Gelli Arts.

These following pieces are the fruits of my preparations for the class which took place the middle of June. With all that focus putting the class work together I learned lots (!!) of new ways of working with the very versatile Gelli plate! I consider it a painting tool as I keep finding how to use it.

The class was so much fun! This I love to do. We were all creating things, the place was filled with work and laughter. And the plans I made, the examples I brought were hardly needed as everyone took off and we had a creative festival. I loved how that happened. An amazing bunch of people all playing.