I’m really getting into this Gelli printing! This time I decided to experiment with acrylic paint instead of ink. Firstly, though, I wanted to design a flowery background and layer it with flowers, one layer after another in fact. Am not really sure what I was doing and was merely experimenting with various techniques till I was happy. A sort of intuitive piece, I guess.
Oil Pastel Scribbles
I firstly primed my paper some white gesso. Used my sketchbook, a pad of Strathmore Mixed Media paper (190 gsm). Then randomly doodled in some flowers using oil pastels and seeing where I’d go from there.
Random Bits
I spread some yellow acrylic ink in random areas and after letting it dry, stencilled in some leaves using Distress Oxide. Then glued on some scraps of paper leftover from a previous piece before rubber stamping various flower patterns around.
Gelli Printing
This time, I used a round 8-inch diameter Gelli plate. It’s new so I was curious how it will all turn out. First I spread a mixture of Dylusions paint in Mushy Peas (light green) and some Golden Fluid Acrylic in Permanent Green and spread it with a brayer. And then “combed” the paint with a small 5-prong tool trying to make a flower pattern. When I printed it, I didn’t realise how squishy and gooey it was going to be given I’m more accustomed to inks which come out dryer. So I proceeded in outlining the big green flower with India Ink to enhance it more. And then added some flower-shaped cut-outs from origami paper. For the finishing touches, I merely dotted some details with acrylic markers.
Definitely not one of my best work but it was worth the practice and experimenting with using acrylic ink for Gelli printing. On the brighter side, I do like the bright green and how the flower radiates in a background bursting with a melange of floral objects floating around. Looks a bit like the universe except instead of moon and stars we just see flowers. Which inspired me to come across this name, “Floral Universe”.
My Kawaii Quarter 