Hello friends! It’s been a minute since I posted here. There are a few reasons for that, but for the most part it can simply be summed up as:
2020.
Ha! I’m mostly joking. There are some (really) good things going on here, too! Like the fact that I’m creating my first art journaling class! I’m super excited to share that with you, as soon as it’s done.
But I didn’t want you to think that I’ve quit journaling, or creative exploring! So I thought I’d share a bit of what I’ve been up to…
Like the fact that I tried Gelli printing for the first time, and I’m in love!
It’s a form of mono printing that you do on a “gel” or gelatin plate. “Gelli Plates” are actually a brand — and the brand I use for my gel printing. They come in a variety of sizes, as well as kits.
Here are two of the gelli prints I made in my journal:
Those are definitely not my “normal” colors, but that is one of the joys of Gelli printing: you really get to explore all kinds of ideas!
This second photo is definitely more in my comfort zone, as far as colors go. I re-used some of my “stencils” as collage elements for both spreads in my art journal. I really like how they turned out!
I made so many Gelli prints, I started to wonder what I was going to do with them all! Well, duh! Making art journals from them was the perfect idea. So I printed on both sides of several papers, cut them down evenly, and bound them with embroidery thread. The journal they produced is pretty small — about 4.5″x7″ — but not tiny. It’s a great size to throw in my bag and work on it on the go!
Here is the cover:
And here is one section of the inside (I share more of the inside pages on my Instagram):
Speaking of small art journals; I found this teeny tiny (about 2″x3″) sketchbook from 2008!
I only made 3.5 portraits in it, but I was so inspired by them, I’ve decided to work in it more.
Here is one of the portraits (I drew them all with stippling):
This stipple portrait was after an Albrecht Dürer painting that I love, Portrait of a Young Venetian Woman.
You can see the rest of the stipple portraits I made on my Instagram. Stipple drawing is so fun, but also very time consuming. So future portraits in this tiny sketchbook will likely come in many forms/mediums.
Also, I’m really close to finishing my latest altered book! Here is one of the spreads I made recently:
art journal inspiration
And, of course, I’m still art journaling, too! Here are some recent highlights for some art journal inspiration:
So there you have it! What I’ve been working on lately. (I actually tried perfect bookbinding for the first time, too! But that’s for another blog post.)
