Gelatin Monoprint Process

I love getting and reading Quilting Arts and Cloth Paper Scissors. Although I don't do much quilting, I love to read the magazines and dream of making something at some point when I have a place large enough to put out my paints and sewing machine. But back to the purpose of this blog...The front of the August/September 2009 Quilting Arts Magazine has an absolutely amazing quilt on the front. The article on the process starts on page 14. It is written by Frances Holliday Alford. In the process she uses gelatin molds to make monoprints on cloth which she then free motion quilts. The paint is put on the round gelatin molds and the cloth is put over the mold and she uses a brayer to spread the paint. The rest is magic and her great sense of style in making an art quilt. I read the article and thought that this same idea might work to make an abstract piece of art. It would work best with smaller sized pieces like my current size of work, 9 inches x 12 inches and 11 inches x 14 inches. So, I went out and bought some cookie sheets and some gelatin. This weekend I am going to begin the process of creating some new artwork. We will see how it comes out. I personally think it will be amazing.

The pieces should look a bit like the pieces I am currently making that I call Acrylic Watercolors. With them I spray the watercolor paper with an acrylic medium and tension breaker mixed with water. I then drop fluid acrylic paints onto the paper and spray more water to move the paint around even more. The result is often times more magical then planned out. The colors are dropped where I want, but the mixing is just magic. What I was originally trying to create was marbled paintings. My acrylic watercolor is what I got. Magic. LOL I will upload some of those pieces for everyone to see as well.

I am also learning more and more each day about the texture of paint I should use with each of my creations. I use structure or heavy gels for a lot of my work. I am finding though that some things I want to turn out a certain way require fluid acrylics, much less structure. I started working on some new pieces last night. I am still working on the last of my green paintings, but last night I was in the mood to start something new using fluid acrylics instead of structured acrylic. This time around it looks like violets and lavenders and purples will be my primary choice of colors. I don't know what other colors will be used except a buff color. That for sure will be used somewhere. I used it to mix in with the violets I used last night to change the shades and tones. So, the buff will be added somewhere in the painting.

You will see as this blog progresses that I don't know the exact terms for what I am trying to do with the shades and tones and hues of colors. I need to read up more on those terms so that I get them right.

Okay, I am going to stop for today. I don't work on Wednesday so I won't be writing tomorrow...not that anyone is reading this, but I will put more artwork up on Thursday when I return to work. I am thinking about opening an Etsy account to possibly sell some of my artwork. Well...try to sell some of my artwork. We will see. This whole process is a learning one.