Series: Messy May #11
Prompt: 11 IMPERFECTION
Host: Iris @iris.impressions.art
Guidance: Practice and embrace imperfection in your art.
I used to be a terrible perfectionist — to the point of not trying new things because the results couldn’t possibly be good — but mixed media cured me of that eventually. When you work in a style that is inherently imprecise you learn to love the serendipitous processes. So for this prompt, I decided to use a technique that never gives pristine results and it’s all the more interesting for that.
My biggest problem with making gelli prints is finding the space to put them; my craft desk is small and there are no empty flat surfaces in the rest of the room so I end up having to balance intermediate papers on top of other things and then spread them out on the bed to dry. But for this one I limited myself to just a few small pieces of paper and focused on just making this piece rather than filling up my stash.
I got my small 3″×5″ gelli plate out, a handful of paints and some leaves, and a piece of non-slip mat for the square texture. The background is just paint left on the brayer after using it on the gelli plate, then there is the trimmed print (I love that orange), and a fussy cut print taken from one of the leaves.
It definitely fulfils the “embrace imperfection” brief; it’s certainly not perfect, but there are a lot of elements that I like.
Crafty Rat 