Are you a Gel Press® Junkie?

YES! I admit it I am a Gel Press Junkie!

I cannot get enough of it and love making print after print!

Housework doesn't get done, gardening chores are ignored all to satisfy my need...no my addiction to making gorgeous mono-prints....one after the other....again and again....

I love our Gel Press Junkies page over on Face Book because I get so much inspiration from everyone there! One of our members ( Linda Sims ) asked if anyone had used Ranger's Distress Inks directly on their plates and I thought that it was a great idea! Thanks Linda!

I have been playing with my Petite plates in set A so I grabbed the small square and proceeded to experiment. I'll need to make a video to show you some tips and tricks but here is what I created in my small 5½x7" Strathmore journal.

LOVE!

How about you? Does this fulfill the addict in you?

Aren't your hands just itching to go play now?

Did you know that Gel Press® can do this?

It all began with a pair of blue jeans so old and worn out ( yes, they actually had holes in them...in all the wrong places if you know what I mean ) that I couldn't do anything but throw them away. Well, that is until it dawned on me to try printing them using my Gel Press® 8x10" plate.

This is a little paper canvas I made with the results, and you can go watch the video here to see how easy it is to do!

And remember we YouTubers sure do love a "thumbs up" if you like our video!
Thanks!!

I also have this project up on the Gel Press® blog today, can you figure out what I used differently? It might be part of the plate you never considered using! Go check it out and I would love for you to leave me a comment over there so I know you stopped by!

I have a new idea for you!

BUT you need to go over to the Gel Press blog so I can show you a creative way to use allllll of your gel plate that you might not have considered before! Hop on over to the blog so you can see what I'm talking about and to see the outcome of this journal page :)

Bring Us Your Best

I must say it has been an exhausting 2 weeks for me, with trying to get everything ready for the Bring Us Your Best art show but now it is over and I made a little video to bring the show to you!

Now I would love it if you would click on that little youtube button in the bottom right corner...see it?...yep, over there. If you do that it will take you to the video where you can do all sorts of lovely things. You can give the video a "thumbs up", and hey who doesn't like getting a gesture of approval? You can also leave all the artists a wonderful comment, which I am sure will make their day and well, it also helps with my youtube ratings! And lastly, but definitely not least, you can subscribe to my channel, and you never know what I might be airing...just saying, keep in touch!

Life Lessons

I figured this would make a great little gift for the tween in your life. Swing by the Arnold Grummer blog to check out the inside to the booklet.

****UPDATE****

BOTH pieces, "in the hills of North Carolina" and "Metallic Swamp" made it pass the jury and will be in the show! Entering 2 pieces was a first for me, usually I am too chicken and only enter one. 

And...

I'll be out at Jongo Java today hoping for some people to sit down and join me in making some mail art today...if anyone shows up I'll share some pictures of it tomorrow.

I'll have this up on the table as a display.

Also made this flyer that they can take home with them.

And of course this one explaining the show itself.

Now let's see if anyone dares approach the table, lol

Do you favor strength or courage?

I used the triangle plate that comes in the Gel Press Petite set A, and a lot of masking to make this journal page. And since this is in my daily affirmation journal I wrote some strength versus courage words to think about. The background for the page was created by running my brayer off each time I use my plates ( inspired by Ineke ) and I just added some stamping along with more masking.

I know I have a lot of strength in me, to do the right thing but sometimes lack the courage to do what's best for me. It's always harder to take things to the next level.
How about you?

Would you pay to be judged?

It's that time of year again where I give away money to be judged. 

::the sound of silence, crickets chirping::

It's a scary thing, entering a juried show...I feel like shouting: "Hey judges, here is my heart art, please like it"...then whispering "and can I have my money back if you reject it?" OK, so I know it's non-refundable, but hey, it's my blog and I'll make absurd wishes if I want to. 

BUT, I rarely do juried shows except for this one because it supports The Arts Council of Henderson County which benefit from the entry fee. 

So there, I am a contributing member to the arts.

This is one of my pieces I will be entering, it took me a year to finish it...not because it was that difficult but because it's a little  a LOT tedious. I had to be "in the mood" to sit down and tear thousand of little tiny strips of paper from magazines that I had to sort by colors. LOTS of sorting and LOTS of tearing.

 Did I mention how tedious this process is?

Even the sides of the canvas are covered in strips of magazine pages. I use text on the sides. I do that so they ( the people looking at my art and ya know those judges busy judging my art ) know it's from magazines, not just cardstock which would be a heck of a lot easier to work with. A LOT easier.

I also try and do some feathering in each one of my pieces for the birds. This is done by cutting out the tiny feathers with tiny scissors and then attaching them with tweezers. I will note that my work doesn't go unappreciated, the other 2 bird collages sold...so yay me!.. it is worth doing, but I am in no way cranking them out. One a year seems to be my pace.

I used 3 types of magazines for this piece:

Outdoor Photographer (for the greens, grays, and browns)

Sundance (for all the pastel and red colors)

Birds and Blooms (for the text for the upper ½ of the canvas)

Yes, I hoard magazines for certain colors.

Will they understand that when I die and they come remove me from my place, that my hoarding was done for the sake of my art?

Wish me luck...on both accounts!