Mood boards
My February mood board came about from de-cluttering my studio and finding lots of hidden photos, odd prints and drawings that I just couldn’t throw away. I really do feel that it’s a mistake to chuck out all of this inspiring stuff – hence the idea came to turn one corner of my studio into an inspirations board.
This month has been about learning new techniques and I’ve enjoyed using what’s known as a Gelli Plate. A Gelli Plate is made out of clear gel – they are easy to clean and ideal for creating monoprints. A monoprint is a single ‘one off’ print. Best suited for use with acrylics paints there are endless possibles and the outcome is quite a surprise! This month I’ve been experimenting with a different colour palette of muted grays and Prussian blue. I tried various different types of paper, such as banana paper and tissue paper with pleasing results.
Having produced lots of prints the next thing was to try using them in a collection of semi-abstract ideas on paper. This is a brilliant way to learn without the pressure of creating a ‘finished’ painting. Play time should be encouraged and something I try to build into my art practice every so often.
These mini abstract landscapes are the results from tearing bits of printed paper and scraping through with the end of a paint brush.
Being inspired by the graphic black and white tones on the mood board I explored the Gelli Prints further by making several abstract pieces on paper using the torn magazines, white acrylic paint and added accents of rust orange and teal blue to give a pop of colour. The results were urban edge and are quite different for me and I’ve even surprised myself with the results.
Excited by this progress I then went on to create a more contemporary piece using bits of torn tissue paper and collaging them into the painting. I’ll be demonstrating several of these techniques on my Art Workshops this year.
Above ‘Second Nature’ 45x45cm
More monthly inspirations to follow…