Gelatin Prints

I've been very productive today!

These are some of the prints I made using unflavored gelatin as a printing block.

Here's my block of gelatin

I used acrylic paints and a brayer

and covered the gelatin block with paint

I laid down some paper circles on top of the paint

then I rubbed the paper over the block

Peel up the paper

Peel off the circles

Make another print

Spread pink paint on the gelatin and put the circles down in different places

lay the first print on top and rub

two layers

the second orange print rubbed on the pink paint

Here are some others using 3 colors and different masks/stencils

This was SO MUCH FUN. I made about 65 pages, each one with 2 or 3 layers and the gelatin block is still in great shape. I put it back in the fridge in case I want to make more!
Now how will I use them.....?

Painting Tissue Paper

I decided to try painting tissue paper after seeing this:

http://michelleward.typepad.com/how_cool_is_that/2010/03/crusade-no-38.html

I used a baby wipe to spread the colors, and love how saturated it became. I might have to re-purpose it into a collage.

Before the baby wipe dried I used it to blot paint all over a blank journal page to use as a background. Hate to waste that paint!

Some of the other tissues I painted

incorporating some of the tissue into the journal spread

another spread - more "extra paint" background with letters stamped on painted tissue

Child's Play

I finished watching all the videos from the 21 Secrets Child's Play workshop and I've been playing around with the ideas. LOVE this simple stamp technique - wrapping yarn around an object:

Then spreading acrylic paint on the yarn and stamping on some painted backgrounds:

The instructor is Alma Stoller and she includes some links to her blog and the tutorials she's posted there. I also followed the link to see the tutorial on turning magazine pages into canvas and really liked the stitching idea. Since I was at Nancy's house where the sewing machine is always set up, I glued and stitched a stack of new canvases. This one has some preliminary paint layers and more simple homemade stamps.

Tiny Days

I sat down to make a small accordion-folded book to fit between two of my small collage squares. Making a tiny book got me singing Scruffy the Cat's "Tiny Days", which would probably have happened anyway, but was a particularly meaningful brain leap this week. We recently learned that Charlie Chesterman has colon cancer and there was a benefit concert in Iowa on the 9th to raise money for his treatments. Ric's podcast this week was a tribute to Charlie - recorded to coincide with the benefit, so I've had Scruffy songs on a loop in my head for days.

I didn't go into the book-making project with anything in mind, but with the song in my head I quickly painted each tiny page, used a different home-made stamp on each, and wrote out the chorus.

The pictures aren't great, but this tiny package puts a huge smile on my face.

Loose ends

I've been painting backgrounds on card stock and making single journal pages.

I'm pounding some out quickly, just to keep practicing and trying new techniques.

I rather like this next one

But I don't want to just pile up the loose papers, I want them in a book. But I wasn't ready to start working in a book, I needed to start one page at a time.

So after a few weeks, I folded all my painted pages into bundles, and hand-stitched them together into a book block. I ripped the guts out of an old hardcover book and pasted the book block into the cover with some marbled end papers. I gessoed the cover, but the spine started to crack. I used some of Lauren's excellent duct tape to reinforce it. Waiting for inspiration to strike before I decorate the cover.

It's fat with partially painted papers, just calling for more paint!

Fearless Painting

"21 Secrets" opened today and I dove right in with Connie Hozvicka's Abstract Adventure.
Very inspiring painting process - went right out and bought a big water color pad and clipped it onto the drying rack on the door so I could paint vertically. I used my new liquitex basics and painted this. I couldn't decided which colors to use so I used them ALL! There's an awful lot going on, but I had great fun doing it.

True confessions - this next one is a copy of something I saw on the wall of Connie's studio while I was watching her tutorial. I loved the colors and pattern and really wanted to try the technique.

I was hating this next one until I started stamping all over it with random household objects, now I find it much more interesting.

more paintings.....

love the texture of this one.

It's all about the process, and not being afraid, and being intuitive. I'm trying to smother the inner critic with paint and just have fun.