Exploring the Gelli plate

I  have started a YouTube channel under The Shelley Studio.http://youtu.be/297xq_YIaQk

 I've been painting random stuff and doing an art journal for awhile now and I finally decided it was time to video tape it. I have watched so many art videos that I felt I could do it too. Hopefully it is a successful channel. 

My first video is about using the Gelliarts Gelli plate. That thing is so much fun. I really enjoy using it. The Gelli plate is a little pricy I purchased mine on Amazon. 

I don't have much money so I am using the cheap paint. In fact that is what they recommend. The craft paint stays wet longer and that makes them easier to work with. You can find craft paint at Walmart for less than a dollar. My paints have been around for quite a while and can be a little messy to work with. 

I used stencils and bubble wrap to create the patterns.  My next video will be creating something from one of the prints I have made.

Here are a few of my prints from the video. 

I

Collage

Apparently I've been on vacation from blogging. Now that summer is almost over I think I should get back on track. I have had a really great summer. Starting with a cruise in Alaska which my friend gave me for my 50th birthday.

I also invested in a Gelliarts printing plate and it has been so much fun. I've gone a little crazy making prints with it. Mostly stuff you would use for art backgrounds. I decided to start making things with these papers and here is one example.

First I selected an image. I was inspired by a crazy owl I saw on someone's business card. Here is the owl I drew. It looks nothing like the business card owl.

It is sitting on a simple painted background not created with the Gelli plate.

Then I picked the printed papers I wanted to use. They all seem pretty random don't they?

Then I cut the owl up and created the pattern peices. I did them bit by bit so I could glue the owl together correctly.

I use matte medium to put the peices together. 

I should have finished the background and then completed the owl but I like to make things harder. 

Here's my owl. I think he's adorable.

I then added visual texture to my back ground using plastic canvas.  

Then I put the owl on using matte medium.

Once it was dry I tried to create a little shading. Using a watercolor crayon in raw umber. Once I did that I created a ground using black sparingly. I put a couple dots of white to highlight and give the Owls eyes some life.  

I think it's really cute. I think now I should do a whole series of animals.

Hopefully a carousel type horse next!

Societly 6

I started submitting art to another web site. This one allows you to out it on cell phone covers and laptops. I'm very excited. Maybe some one will buy something there. I have added a link on my blog you can see it off to the right. My first painting is my Gecko. isn't he cute?

Impromptu

Yesterday we had some sad news. My nephew and his wife's baby was still born. They've been trying for so long and thought they were safe because they were past the 6 month mark. I felt moved to paint this. It's just a sketch really 

Art Journaling

Art Journaling. It's been popular lately on Pinterest and Facebook. After watching a few videos I decided to try it. I love the mixed media look. Even though some of them have the look of straight painting. I guess it takes a while to shift your thinking. I signed up for an art journal challenge and it has been a lot of fun.

This challenge was feet

This was calendar 

This was no paint brush. I used my fingers and a paper clip. 

I attempted to paint some faces. They are defiantly imperfect but I like them 

This challenge was crown. 

Commission

So I've been asked by my day job to create something for our Branch Manager. She is moving to California and the wanted something that incorporates my art and photos of her time as Branch Manager. Nothing like a little pressure.

I was thinking photo collage I couldn't think of how I would incorporate any art. I went to my favorite resource. PINTEREST. I saw where they had done photo collages using letters. I liked the idea and decided to use the numbers 68. (that is our branch number). My only issue was finding numbers the right size. I searched every store I could think of with no success. There are letters like crazy but numbers were scarce. I did find them but they were either too large or too small. I didn't have time to order some to be made. Oh by the way I was given 6 days. Turning desperate I decided to make my own from craft foam. They are not as perfect as I was hoping but no one will notice, hopefully.


My next issue was what to put behind it. I suggested getting peoples signature but they wanted something a little classier. Hopefully the final product will work. I decided, reluctantly, to do a black and white water color behind the numbers. I took photos of the view from our office, The Wasatch mountains are a nice view and went to work on the watercolor.

 This took a few days to complete and the paint didn't get as black in the dark areas as I had hoped. Now I can't bring myself to stick the numbers on top so I think I will stick them directly on the glass of the frame.

As you can see foliage is not my strong point.

It looks better in the frame.

 

 

It went over pretty well. Tracy seemed to like it.

 

 

Installation Art

Friday my nephew asked me if I knew what an art installation was. I said yes but I had a hard time explaining so I googled it. According to Wikipedia "Installation Art" is an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space.
Then he tells me he needs to create an art installation due Monday and did I have any ideas?
" sure" I said "we have a bunch of old cardboard boxes in the garage that we need to get rid of. Cut them in to some shape" we settled on a triangle shape. After a while he asked me to see if he had made enough. They had about 80 triangles I said no I had originally thought about 200 would do but after seeing how small their pile was I told them we would need about 400.

So Collin and I volunteered to help cut triangles. Then we took chrome spray paint to make them look like something better than card board and gave them each a few coats.

             

I helped Tyson calculate the shape we wanted. A wave seemed the easiest.

We used thread and paper clips to hang them. With Kaylynne's help we got them all hung. And the whole process only took three days

                                   













 Here are a few "artsy" shots as Tyson calls them.