The woods as my inspiration

I have been taking daily walks in the woods by the lake. I take photos but they don’t really capture the connection that I feel.

brown bag book cover

Yesterday, I decided to play with printing trees with torn paper stencils and the gelatin plate. Torn paper has a wonderful ragged and organic edge.

torn paper stencils for gelatin printmaking

I wanted to create an abstract and somewhat natural feel to the printed woods scapes.

gelatin plate monotype prints

I experimented with speedball water based block printing ink and a little bit of acrylic. The first impression gave me the very dark background with white tree shapes. The second impression produced lovely light spot trees, similar to a birch tree.

mixed media gel plate print

I was having fun, but I wanted to create more  range of value and some darker tree shapes. The printing session was a bit up and down with being pleased with the prints and being frustrated. That is usual for me.

accordion book of gelatin prints by linda germain

I printed a second day and was pleased with some of the prints. I glued several into an accordion book and then did some collage and doodling.

concertina style book of gelatin monotype prints by linda germain

Even though they are just torn paper stencils, I think I will save them for another day of printing.

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Happy Printing!

book by linda germain