I combined two of my photos into a composite for this one. Then I cut a stencil from the new image. I fooled around with some prints and I like the single colour ones the best. How about you? Here are the rest of the pics...

and that’s a wrap for this 30 day painting challenge. I hope you enjoyed it!

lots going on in my studio today... enough that I missed several “rest/stretch” alarms. Oops! Although I’ll likely pay for that later, it was FUN! I consider one or two of these prints complete, the rest are on their way. Here are the steps for interested parties:

1. Sketch the branches and birds on copy paper
2. Apply plastic contact paper to both sides
3. Cut stencil with exact knife, leaving a full border around the 8.5x11 image
4. On Gelli plate create complex backgrounds with lots of colour. Allow them to dry completely.
5. Brayer white paint (tinted) onto Gelli plate, apply stencil to the wet white paint, align the prepared background over the printing plate, press, and pull the print.
6. Immediately remove stencil and pull a ghost of the paint remaining on the plate.

Fun fun fun!

Today was a butterfly day and I did three mono print variations, none turned out as well as I’d hoped. I love the colours though and I hope you do too.

I’m loving playing with my Gelli plate again! I enjoy the process of painting this backwards: first the birds, the trees and the white horizon line, next the lines that would be in the sand and the water. I let each of those layers dry before applying a transparent blue, pink and yellow layer over the sky and water and a neutral over the sand. Lastly, a layer of white over the entire surface followed by pulling the print. It’s surprising how complete the print is. So.much.fun!!!

Today I made a reinforced mask/stencil set of these three birds and I played with them for this post! It’s just so much fun, even if this project ended up darker than I’d hoped.

I received a call from the computer guy today... my computer’s hard drive is toast! I’ve got most, but not all, of my photos backed up. So, here’s a public service announcement: be obsessive about your computer backups. It’s not fun finding out that your weekly backups ceased months ago!

Gelli prints are a fun painting process. The results are often unpredictable but I enjoy the lack of control (some days :). Enjoy your Sunday!

Photo credit for this sawwhet owl goes to my brother Dwight. Particularly because this guy was cosied up to a cammo fence post! Such a velvety looking owl - gorgeous!

Just time today for a small watercolour sketch of shorebirds. Enjoy!

I was surprised to learn that the Western Meadlowlark Is a member of the blackbird family! As Prairie kid, I remember my dad pointing out the beautiful song of this bird many times. He’s not as easy to spot though! This is one of the birds that builds their nest on the ground. Sometimes they have a roof and/or tunnel entrances. Enjoy!

Last April we had a spring storm and under the cover of the snow, a flock of waxwings arrived to gobble up the last of the ash berries. We noticed a robin nestled into the group which was all fluffed up against the cold. Enjoy!