Every week I participate in the #ColourMePositive19 challenge on Facebook. The admin posts a quote and what you do with it is up to you. I work in a 6×6 journal for these and see them as quick play with colour and mark making – they’re a chance to just loosen up a bit. I was away last weekend so did two last night. I used Tim Holtz stencils, Distress paint, Distress ink for inking the edges of the paper, black and white pens.
I love gelli printing, and have taught it in the past. I’m going to be teaching it again this winter, in Greymouth, and am really looking forward to it. I may do some more classes here in South Taranaki too.
In the meantime, I have a joint exhibition booked for the Lysaght Watt Gallery in October with Dimmie Danielwski – I’ll be using some existing works but also making a new body of work based on my visit to the Hokitika Gorge last year.
With those two things in mind, I’ve been doing some gelli printing. I’ll use the captions to explain what these are.
In November I spent a few days in Greymouth and Hokitika, and visited Hokitika Gorge. The shapes and colours have invaded my mind & are appearing in my art.
When I did my final (4th) year at The Learning Connection a few strong marks emerged, including a sort of curved power pole with a cross beam, normally in cream. (I can’t find an image of these works anywhere)
I’m finding those marks have reappeared in a new form – this time as a cross with some tiny hatchmarks near it, a cross and some hatchmarks inside a circle, and a curved pair of parallel lines with a cross beam. The circle / oval are featuring too, and are fairly new to me in terms of consistent use.
I’ve shown below some works from 2008, and some of the new works I’ve been doing, which are gelli prints as a base with mark making in subsequent layers. Looking at these, the connection between the 2008 marks, and today’s marks, isn’t as obvious as I thought it would be …
(in other news, I think my scanner glass needs a good clean)
I love Rae’s art, having met her through Documented Life etc. I was super excited about trying her technique … and it wouldn’t work for me 😉 I think the crayons I have just weren’t waxy enough to resist properly. That said, I got some fabulous prints and loved some of her ideas for getting interesting marks using a Gelli plate. I have shared my fav, and it’s ghost print, below.
I love Dina Wakley’s work, and also her paints – they are a nice consistency and great colours, so I was excited about today’s inspiration. The project was quite different to what I’d normally do, which is the whole point of Creative Jumpstart. I painted a journal page as the background, then a loose page of marks for using as contrast, then tackled the face on a second loose sheet of paper. I’m not good with faces, so printed one of the internet to use as a guide. Once it was all dry, I tore the face in half and combined with pieces of the mark making paper. I’m pleased with the final result, and will probably try this approach again.
Cath Sheard Art 