I recently got a gelli plate and am in the process of exploring a few techniques I can use with that versatile tool.
Oil pastel resist seemed like a promising one, because it allows some control on the design but also lives some place for chance. I also really like the look of monoprints and the option for happy accidents đŸ™‚
To try this technique, you will need:
A gelli plate
A brayer or 2
Some acrylic paints, at least 2 contrasting colors
Oil pastels, at least one color
Paper, I used regular drawing paper
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This plate includes a Mylar sheet with 1″ grid lines to help with composition. It’s perfect for creating bleed prints on A4 and classic letter size papers.
Start by drawing your design with oil pastel, I suggest you start with simple line designs to get familiar with the technique at first.Then you can spread some acrylic on your gelli plate, try to have an homogeneous layer that is not too thin but evenly spread.The color of this layer will be the color of your line drawing on the final print.
The color of the oil pastel you used will not show on the monoprint, only the color of this first layer.the nex step is applying your paper with the oil pastel drawing on the plate that has just been covered in acrylic paint. Timing is everything here, you don’t want to leave the paper on too long, just a few seconds, applying pressure everywhere on your paper. If you leave the paper for too long, you won’t see the oil pastel drawing.Gently lift the paper from the gelli plate.
You can keep that print as a “negative” version of your final print. The design will have the color of the oil pastel you used to make your resist drawing.
My original oil pastel drawing in red.
You will see your oil pastel resist design in the color of that first acrylic layer. The background might show some of the black paint, you can decide to leave some as part of the look or clean up some areas at the stage. Here I cleaned up a bit of paint on the top part of the flower and removed the bigger stain on the left.Next, apply the background color directly on the plate on top of your design. Here I chose a white background but you can experiment with many options
I am a Blick Art Materials affiliate and I receive a small compensation for sales. That does not effect in any way the cost of the purchaser’s order but it helps me keeping the content of this blog free.
A hard synthetic rubber roller (80 durometer) makes these brayers ideal for light carving or gluing applications, and excellent for rolling down print surfaces. – Deluxe Brayers
Spread the background color on the gelli plate with a brayerPrint your monoprint by applying paper on the plate and carefully pressing so the paper is fully in contact with the plate. This time you want to leave the paper for at least 15 minutes so it has time to soak all the paint on the plate.The monoprint
Ideas to explore with Gelli printing Oil pastel resist
Draw your oil pastel resist in white And use black as the first layer, you will get the first print as white drawing on black background and the second one as black drawing on white background Use more than one color for your background or even your first layer You can even experiment with gradients on the background I used black acrylic for the first layer and then a gradient for the second layer. Share pictures of your prints in the comments!
Originally from France, I have been living in North Vancouver, Canada for the past 20 years.
My work has been collected and exhibited extensively in Canada and internationally. I am also part of the Art Rentals and sales program of the Vancouver Art Gallery.
Many of my paintings have been published in Art books and magazines (Artist Magazine, Watercolor Artist Magazine, Acrylic Magazine, International Artist Magazine). I wrote 2 art instruction books with North Light/F+W Books.
I have been writing for the last 5 years for my blog: paintingdemos.com, that has a mailing list of about 10 000 subscribers and about 20 000 visitors per month.
I am an active member in the community, as a co-founder of the North Shore Art crawl, a co-founder of a weekly life drawing group, a board member of the North Vancouver Arts Council, and have been invited as a juror for public art, art grants and juried exhibitions. You can read more about my collaborations here.
