Dark Over Light with Joan Bess Lesson Plan

OBJECTIVE

Students Will Be Able To (SWBAT) demonstrate overlaying light with dark tones with paint
SWBAT design their own galaxy style print?

ESSENTIAL QUESTION

SUPPLIES

STEP-BY-STEP

Here’s how:

Apply light colors to your Gelli® plate with a sponge dauber.
- Leave areas of the gel plate unpainted.
- Add focal points and patterns by dabbing paint through stencils
Allow paint to dry thoroughly.
Load your brayer with a dark color and roll it over the dry paint on your Gelli® plate.
Quickly cover with your printing paper, rub to transfer the paint — and slowly pull your print. This should pull up just about all of the paint on the plate.

This is a simple technique, but here are a few things to keep in mind:

Use fast-drying acrylic paints.
Avoid any blobs or thick applications of paint since they take a while to dry.
Allow the painted image to dry completely. (Do NOT use heat to hurry the drying!)
Roll a thin layer of paint over the dry paint — then quickly cover with paper.
Give a little extra time when rubbing to transfer the paint to the paper.
Pull the print slowly. The paper can tend to stick to the plate a bit as you pull the print.

Here are a few variations to try:

Use metallic and/or interference paints. They’ll pop against the final dark layer.
For a painterly print, apply the paint with a soft brush instead of a sponge dauber.
Press texture tools into the paint while it’s wet.
Experiment with different color combinations for very different results. Be sure to create enough contrast.

The dry layers of sponged paint created some unexpected interesting paint textures!

These prints can be great beginnings, too! Add doodling on them with paint pens, colored pencils and your favorite drawing media.

As you can see, there’s great potential for creative explorations in printing with dark over light colors. Have fun!