Cut Paper Overlays by Bob Pennycook

Hi all. It’s Bob again.

Today, we’re going to talk about using cut
paper overlays to build the sections of a landscape.

PLUS- read to the end to learn how to enter in our giveaway!

We’ll use a piece of card stock as template
pieces and we’ll add some spritzing and soft-edge techniques to create some
increased visual interest.

Let’s get started:

First, you’ll need a registration system.
An easy system to make is a taped hinge. Cut your paper a few inches larger
than your gel plate, center the paper over the plate and tape one edge of the
paper to your table surface. Fold the paper back over the tape and you’ve
created a hinge. Use wide painter’s tape for this.

As long as neither the plate nor the paper
move during printing, you’ve got an effective registration system.

The first print pull is an overall color
using a cheap bristle brush. The bristles will create visual texture in the
print. My choice was a soft blue to use as both sky and the water color.

 

Next, you’ll need to create your design
template. Use card stock for this as a thinner paper is more difficult to
remove from the plate. This is a 6” gel plate so I marked a six inch square on
the card stock and drew the pattern lines. Write in what each section will be.
This helps later once all the pieces have been cut.

Since I wanted to keep the sky and water
blue, I cut out and placed the sky template and water/land template in place.

The open space becomes the mountains. Paint
that color roughly using a bristle brush. Paint this section a muted, warm
color which will help push the sky into the background. Remove the templates
and pull the print.

Cut out the small water template. Place it
into position then paint the land. Remove the template and pull the print.

Your print should look like this so far.

Wrap a shop towel around your index finger;
mist it with some water then gently wipe the bottom edge the mountains
downwards into the water.

Paint a thin warm band of color onto the
mountains, up a little from the water. Pull the print.

Protect the upper part of your print so
that just the foreground is visible. Spritz the print with water from a mister
bottle then gently place a shop towel over the spritzed area. Tap the towel a
little then remove. As long as your paint is still fresh when you do this, you
should have some texture dots in the land.

Use a 2B pencil and create some
calligraphic lines at the bottom of the thin warm band (see video). Then take a
stomp, paper stump, blender (shown in pic) or whatever you call them in your
area, and soften the graphite lines, smudging the graphite a little.

Next, use a kneaded eraser to remove some
of the black from the smudged areas to create some variation of value.

And that’s it! You’re finished. Hope you
had fun.

 

Materials List:

• Gelli Arts® 6” square gel plate
• Golden Open Acrylics: Titan Green Pale, Teal, Titanium
  White, Quinacridone Magenta
• Some sort of registration system
• Bristle brushes – one for each color is best
• Shop towels
• Painter’s tape
• Scissors
• Cardstock
• Pencil (2B)
• Water mister bottle

Giveaway time! 

We are giving away a set of Liquitex® acrylic paint to one lucky winner!

To enter: leave a comment on this blog post and we will randomly draw a winner. Deadline is Monday, March 30, 2020 11:59PM ET. Good luck!

FOLLOW US:

Bob’s Instagram

Bob’s Facebook

www.bobpennycook.com

Gelli Arts® Instagram

Gelli Arts® Facebook

Sign up to receive email updates + special offers from Gelli Arts®