Art Journaling With a Gel Print

Lately I have been making a lot of monoprints using my Gelli Arts gel printing plate. You know I love making these and I have a load of them! The past few days I have had a couple people ask me what I do with all these prints. Let me tell you I get some mileage out of them! Hahahaha! Today's project is just one example showing what you can do with a gel print. 

For this particular print I began with a 5" x 7" piece of Bristol Illustration paper from Hahnemühle. I love these prints, so much color and texture. Click on the photo to enlarge it and look at all the wonderful bits - flowers from at least two different stencils, bubbles from bubblewrap, different bubbles from a stencil - all bits leftover from earlier prints. Even that purple is leftover from an earlier print. 

Yes, my print had lots of texture but I thought it could use some contrast, too. I have a lot of these little ATC stencils and they are perfect for adding contrast/texture to any project. The little black tube with the sponge on the end is a dabber. You put it on the end of your finger and you dab black ink from an Archival ink pad and stab it through the stencil. My dab and stab technique. Hahaha!

I really like this stencil! I know it is supposed to be ornamental but it reminds me of flowers. Flowers on an old cement wall. Like the ones in St. Augustine down in Florida. I think it's called George Street. Man, you can find all kinds of graffiti and art on those walls. I love it! 

These little dots are a great one! They included the space between the dots - I do not know of any other stencil that does that. At this point I thought the texture and contrast balance was perfect. 

And while I had the black Archival ink pad out I went around all the edges with ink and created little scuff marks in some places. You know how I am about finishing the edges. Hahahaha!

I thought this little strip of alcohol ink leftovers would be a perfect embellishment. I stuck it in place with some scor tape. That sucker will never fall off. Like ever. 

Simple addition from Joggles. Barb has all these collage sheets in her shop. I am working towards having one of all of them. Over 200! Hahahahaha! I had a little word block about friends that I wanted to use and these two girls were perfect. I ran them through the sticker machine first, trimmed them out and popped them in place. Easy peasy. 

There is that friends block! The little fox - is that a fox? - also came from a collage sheet. And the sentiment came from Art By Marlene. Cool little portable sized book. Part of her Artsy Arabia line. I used a little watercolor to paint their hair. Their hair just needed some color. 

Super easy art journal page. And it all started with Gelli Arts and Hahnemühle. Pretty much like everything I do. 

Gelli Arts Gel Printing Plates can be purchased here.

Bristol Illustrated paper from Hahnemühle can be purchased here.