Gel plate sessions

Continuing with the gel plate theme I chose a limited palette - you might recognise it.  I played with a stencil and a piece of plastic mat which has squiggly lines.

Interestingly I had the gel plate in a landscape position (which is unusual for me) but when it came to taking the photos, apart from the one above, I put the prints in portrait!

I had printed all the above on on mixed media paper.  The next few are on Deli paper or copy paper.

This was one of the prints I did with transparent paints - leaving each layer to dry - and then putting gel medium on top to pull the last layer.  I thought I had left it on to long so it tore - leaving paper on the gel plate.  But actually I hadn't left it long enough.

I printed back over the top to cover up all the white.

And these are with turquoise paint and just a bit too bright.  However these prints will be useful to add pops of colour on collages.

 Guess what I did next!  I cut up the prints made on mixed media paper to make concertina books. This one folds up to 10cms square.

This is a slightly smaller one and folds up to 10x8cms

I'm now in the thinking phase.  Should I stitch into it?  Should I collage other papers onto the pages?  Should I collage and stitch?

I'll let you know the outcome.

Thanks for joining me today.
Bernice

Colour Wheels

I am doing a Sally Hirst course called Monotype & More.  Yes I know!  Don't go on.  I have too many courses all running at the same time.

One of the first exercises was to make a colour wheel by puttin paint onto a gel plate and pulling the print.  I have done a fair bit of colour theory but I have never mixed the paint on the gel plate.  Some of the colours were a bit hit and missbut still show the range.

This wheel is made with cool colours - Pyrrole Red, Nickel Titian Yellow and Coeruleum Hue.

This wheel is made from warm primaries - Primary Magenta, Primary Yellow and Primary Cyan.

There's two of each colour because I printed on Deli paper and copy paper to see if the surface of the paper made any difference to the colour.  It didn't!

After this I had a play with stencils and my favourite colours.

I'll share my results in a separate post.

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice

Shadows

Continuing with Essence of Identity one of the suggested activites was to go for a walk and take photos of shadows.  However since we hadn't any sun here for a few days I used photos I had taken some time ago for the photography group.  I put some of them together in a montage.

The second part of the activity was to right a poem or a story about your photos. I wrote a poem.

Shadows 

What hides in the shadows?
What lurks behind the lines?

Lines drawn by the sun
through metal fencing
Charcoal grey on pale grey tarmac.

Straight lines. Diagonal lines.
Sharp point on shadows
that have no sharpness.

Straight line fencing
along straight lined paths.
Yet, in amongst the shadow lines
Shadow plants linger,
soft and curling.

What hides in the shadows
of our minds?
What lurks behind the lines
drawn on our foreheads?

The inner critic.
The voice we know that lingers,
soft and curling
And lurks behind our creativity.

Pull down the thoughts
Take captive the voice that impedes our way
Let nothing hide in the shadows
Let nothing lurk behind the lines.

I'm really enjoying writing poems at the moment.  I don't know where it will lead - if anywhere!

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice