post cards coming and going

here are some of the delightful post cards I've received lately.     

The beach scene done in watercolor is by Debbie for the California Art Girl summer swap.     it's delicate and precious with the tiny little footprints behind the people.






This charming bicycle post card was stamped over a map and then hand colored by Beth.   The addition of the stamps makes it pop.  

 You may recognize this next one from Roberta, who painted the face over a piece of something recycled.  some paint, some scribbles with pencils and crayons, and here it is.     i suspect it is on a grocery shopping bag.     Good for you, girl.  

The armadillo is from Suzanne Denker from the Carving Consortium summer swap.    The only parameter is to use a hand carved rubber stamp.     I love her little armadillo.   Using it in a repeat pattern makes such a good design. 

These next two are ones I've done to send for the Carving consortium summer swap, and the second one is for the Mail Me Some Art monoprint swap.    We were asked to use the gelli plate if we have one, or any other printing surface.    I have the 6 x 6 inch gelli plate which works well for post cards.     I pressed my chicken stamp into the paint on the surface of the gelli plate and then pressed it onto a recycled post card.     On the right side, I used a stencil and three colors of paint on the gelli plate.    Printed several layers.




Here is the last one using only stencil and paints on another recycled card.   The gelli plate is fun to play with, cleans up easily and is a big favorite tool now with many artists.   There are all kinds of you tube demos and web sites which show videos of how to use them.  I only used craft paints and a little gesso .  I'll send them with mail labels on the other side with the postage and return address label.     soon as I get to the post office for more stamps.     

if you want to play with a gelli plate and don't want to invest in a commercial one, there are a number of good videos on you tube with recipes and demos of how to make your own.    A few of my friends tried them and had varying degrees of success.    For me, I like the commercial plate with it's container to hold it safely.    I've had it for several years.   It has not deteriorated in any way.   Some of my friends have the larger sizes which are awesome, but also quite expensive.   The small size fits my studio and the type of work I do with it.   But some day I may find I need the larger one..... you never know.