Gelli Arts® Contemporary Landscape Print by Bob Pennycook

Hi there; Bob here. Today, I want to show you
how to create a contemporary landscape using a few soft colors, graphite, ink, and a couple of different Gelli Arts® gel plates.

The paint I used here is Golden paints new
heavy body colors in Titan Green Pale, Titan Violet Pale, and Light Orange. I
also used Golden’s Teal for the background.

Since my prints are built from several layers
of color each applied individually, I need some sort of system to keep all the
printed layers of color in register. My YouTube channel has a brief video about
constructing such a registration board.

In this picture I’ve lined up the edges of a 8″x 10″ Gelli Arts® plate to the board and then cover the wood strips on the board with 2″ painters tape. This will protect the wood strips from
accidental paint strokes or drips.

To ensure that your paper isn’t upside down
and/or backwards when you print, pencil an arrow into the upper left corner of what will be the back of the print. You’ll use that arrow to line up your paper
with the metal corner bracket each time you add a layer in your print.

I’m using Teal for the background color.
If you are also using fast drying heavy body paints, you might want to add a bit of
Golden Open Acrylic Gel Medium to each of the colors you place on the palette.
If you add about 20% gel medium to the paint, you’ll slightly slow down the
drying time of each color. But the choice is yours.

Use a dry, flat, bristle brush to apply color
to the plate. The bristles will help create a little random texture in your
paint. Apply the color to the plate and then remove the painters tape from the wood strips on the registration board.

Pull your first print. Make sure the upper
left corner of the paper fits into the corner of the angle bracket to ensure
registration. Make sure you don’t move the Gelli Arts® plate between color pulls
or the next layer of the print will be off register.

Here’s the first pull of the background
color.

Re-apply tape to the board and brush a thin
layer of Titan Green Pale over the entire plate. Remove the tape and pull the print.

Here’s what happens: Since you’ll be
printing wet paint into wet paint much of the paint applied to the plate is
left behind and/or mixed into the initial color leaving you with a soft,
visually textured background.

Apply 1″ painters tape around the inside
edge of the plate, apply Titan Green Pale to the exposed area, remove the tape
and print.

You should get a defined rectangle of lighter
color over the background. If the light color doesn’t show, you could either
reprint that color or use a paint brush to add a little more
paint to the rectangle on your print.

Tape off a 4″ square a couple of inches below
the top of the plate. Brush on a thin layer of Titan Violet Pale. Remove tape
and pull the print.

Brush a thin layer of Light Orange onto a 3″ round Gelli Arts® plate and press the round plate into the violet square on the
larger plate. Pull the print.

Tape off a skinny line towards the bottom of
the print (not on the gel plate). Using a soft sponge, tap Light Orange paint into the open space between the pieces
of tape. Thissponge is a piece cut from a grouting sponge.

Remove the tape and you have your finished
print. Now, you just need to add some details. I drew the tree and added the
lettering with HB pencil then I went over the pencil lines with a nib pen and
acrylic ink.

Here is a photo of the tree design and quote by Dr. Seuss if you
would like to use them in your print.

Thanks for stopping by!

Bob

Materials:

-8″ x10″ and 3″ round Gelli Arts® gel plates
-Registration board
-Painters’ Tape – 1″ and 2″ wide
-Paint Brushes
-Golden Heavy Body Acrylics – Teal, Light Orange, Titan Green Pale, and Titan Violet Pale
-Golden Open Gel Medium
(Optional)

-HB Pencil
-8B Pencil or Acrylic Ink
with Nib Pen
-Palette
-Printmaking paper – I used Stonehenge by Legion Paper

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