Moving up the ladder with gelli printing.

I have had so much fun with this, I gave myself permission to veer off in my own direction.     One of the main things I wanted to learn was how to keep the paints open longer on the plate so I could paint little landscapes and pull a good print from them.   The open paint problem was addressed by Carolyn Dube, but the landscape paintings are totally my own.   I am curious if Carolyn will do anything like this later.  They are much like painting on ceramic tiles.    You don't quite know what the results will be or what the print will look like.


I've had more failures than successes, but I now have a number of ones that I consider worthy of framing for the small works show in Lodi.   Here are three of them. I scanned them with the mat boards on, so they are not clear, but you can get the idea or what I'm trying to do.     

 This one is of the Nevada desert.    Near where one of my sons lives.    Mono printing is fun, but you can never duplicate anything even if you do the exact same thing.    I'm very happy I'm working on deli wrap so I don't waste a lot of good paper.     The size of the print is the size of the gelli plate.

This one is the high Sierra Mt. Range. 


I like how simple and calming they are.  Nothing bright, nothing showy, just a bit on paint on deli wrap, glued to Mixed media board.    Matted in a taupe/grey color.  I bought a packet of about 15 mats years ago when they were refused by the person who ordered them   I got them for next to nothing.   I'm so glad I hung on to them.    

Now I'll show you some of the influences that steered me in this direction.   

As a child, we had my father's old scrapbooks and photographs to look at.      Many of them were in sepia tone from the 1920s.     Here are a few examples from his Alaska days.

This is where I got my palette for the first one above.   I used asphaltum paint and white.    I went to an art exhibit the other evening where someone whose work I really like had been working with encaustics and rust.
She had some really nice pieces.     This is sort of my rusty looking palette.      


I may try to integrate some of the photos into the prints in some way - maybe digitally.      first I have to get better scans.  

My brother has been scanning the photos and has lots more of them I can use.     Right now he's busy making a film of the photos, dad's written story of his time there, and using the voices of our family members to narrate.     When it's done, I'll post a link for anyone who loves Alaska and history, and mining.