acrylic paint – Guila's Art & Other Assorted Joys

Monoprinting with a Gelli Plate – Yes It’s Addictive!

June 16, 2015 Guila Greer

So I’m trying to get back on track and catch you all up with what I’ve been up to for the past 5+ months. Only a PART of that time has been non art related – boo-hoo, but it will be in the future 🙂

Rather than try to squish it all into one post I want to tell you about an exciting day I had about a month ago making mono prints. How many of you broke down and bough a Gelli plate when they came out? Or at least were tempted to?

Well, I did, and it has been very busy collecting dust – well except for once when my friend and I got together and messed around with some fabric; neither of us knowing what we were doing.

So a local Art Supply store sponsored a half day workshop – a ‘how to’ to create mono prints with a Gelli Plate and I was first in line.

I can’t go through ALL that I learned that day but it was extremely productive and in addition to some beautiful prints that I brought home with me – here are the main points that I picked up.

1. It can get messy: Do your printing in an area that can withstand the mess of spattered paint – get dressed with that in mind as well.

2. Use OPEN acrylics. Yes they made a huge difference! I suppose if you’re very sure of yourself and can work very quicky you could get away with the much shorter drying time of regular acrylics. But for a novice like me – or if you want to work extemporaneously, do use the Open type.

3. Have a variety of objects at the ready to make marks. Make sure that none of them are too pointy. You don’t want to damage your plate.

4. Use every bit of paint left on your plate – have a journal at the ready for instance so you can use the leftover paint to start backgrounds.

5. Become intimately familiar with the color wheel and which colors NOT to mix together if you want to avoid mud.

6. Just let ‘er rip – Use your imagination. What’s the worst that can happen? You’ll have an ugly print which you can then gesso over and reuse.

I’m eager to show you some of what I brought home with me that day. Most of these were done on printing paper; some on card stock, and a few on 140 wt watercolor paper.

Next up – as soon as I can work in a day – will be fabric prints!

Some cards using Monoprint techniques with a Gelli Plate:

Using Stencils with Monoprints

Some are even suitable for framing themselves; others can be used in whole or in part in other pieces.

And look at what you can do by cleaning off your brayer on a sheet of printing paper!!! 🙂

Tee, hee – Not bad for brayer cleaning, huh? I won’t tell if you won’t tell!

Who wants to try mono printing next?

Accessories and Ornaments, Art, Home Dec

Paint and Bead Your Own Decorative Pillow ! Back By Demand Jan. 14, 2014

July 30, 2013January 12, 2014 Guila Greer

I’ve been busy preparing for what is shaping up to be an exciting Fall schedule of teaching. One of the new workshops planned is to make your own decorative pillow. You will paint your own fabric and embellish it with beads. The class is on the schedule at Baron’s Sewing Center in Woodland Hills for September 24th and October 8th, 2013.

Here is the one that I finished the other day.

I started with a piece of white PFD Kona cotton and painted the background with an acrylic wash of color. Next I painted the flowers and layered the piece with batting and lining. Then the REAL fun began as I used thread painting to add depth and texture to the design. Here’s where you can really let yourself experiment with color and various thread weights. I particularly liked the look of some variegated 30 wt. thread.

When I declared the thread painting “done” I got out my beads and went to town! Because this will be used for “show and tell” in class I wanted to be sure to incorporate several basic beading stitches. I used moss stitch, scatter stitch, seed stitch, bugle pathways, back stitch and stacked stitch.

My goal was to achieve a vibrant mix of color, texture and bling. Did I achieve it??

Art, Art Quilt, Art Quilts, Fiber Art, Haiku, Poetry, Poetry and Photography

Challenge for January: Exhilaration – Haiku and Art

January 26, 2012April 2, 2012 Guila Greer

The Haiku Art prompt word for January was Exhilaration.

The American Heritage Dictionary defines “Exhilaration” as “The state of being stimulated, refreshed, or elated.”

Sometimes all it takes to experience these feelings is to step outside on a sunny day.

The Haiku

scent of new mown grass

sunbeam caresses my cheek

living…feeling…aaaaah…

For the art work that I was preparing to go with this haiku – I didn’t want to be too structured. I wanted to indicate an almost childlike feeling of exhilaration with my composition and color choices.

At the same time, as a developing art quilter, I wanted to incorporate a couple of new techniques and see “what if”?

First off I used a “blah” pastel print in lieu of plain muslin as my base. I didn’t mind that it partly “showed through” – just felt it added some interest.

I felt that color was of first importance in this piece – so before doing anything else I painted my background using acrylic paint. In order to add some texture to the piece I used some Golden Light Molding Paste to parts of the grassy area.

I quilted the piece extensively with heavy thread.