Gel Plate Drawing Transfer Monoprint with Acrylic Paint and Colored Pencils

gel plate monoprint with acrylic paint and colored pencils of a rolling landscape
By / 13 Comments / monotype, Printmaking

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Gel Plate Drawing Transfer Monoprint with Acrylic Paint and Colored Pencils

I’m almost finished making these Gel Plate Drawing Transfer Monoprints, I promise… I can’t help all the fun I’m having with Acrylic Paint and Colored Pencils. If you’re new around here, you can find a list of the previous (5) posts from my deep dive into ballpoint pen gel plate monoprints below.

If you’re a long-time neighbor (hello, how are you? Have a cookie. 🍪) and you’re not a gelli plate printer – I will post some watercolors and linocut experiments very soon. Thanks for your patience while I sallied forth into gelli plate print quadrilles.

Using a Uni 1.0 Jetstream Medium Black Pen (this one) to impress linework into drawing paper.
Using the same pen (which is very smooth to draw/write with) to press down and add crosshatch and detail to the drawing.
My second of three pulls using the same drawing from 5×7 gel plate: the indentation of the pen lines are concave enough to miss touching the surface of the gel plate which leaves the drawn lines in acrylic on the plate’s surface.
Close-up of the drawing transfer in acrylic on a gell plate after peeling the drawing off the surface of the plate.
After the violet-purple acrylic linework was dry, I rolled a grass-green acrylic over the plate, and immediately pressed a sheet of printmaking paper on top, and weighed it down with a couple of books.
cdfd
10 minutes later, I removed the books and carefully peeled the printmaking paper from the gel plate. The green acrylic paint acts as a catalyst to adhere to both the paper and the purple linework. These prints are a little bit of magic, and so fun to play with!
Purple lines on a green background; perfect playground for colored pencil fun.
Alluvial Plain – 5.5 x 7.5 Gel Plate Monoprint with Colored Pencil – Available in my Etsy Shop.
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Alluvial Plain Gel Plate Ballpoint Monoprint.

If you’re new to this process, there are five previous posts in this series on my blog, so here they are in order.

  • The first gel monoprint post features a girl on a sailboat and all the links where I learned how to make one, as well as the basic supplies necessary to get started.
  • My second gel plate and ballpoint post is a monoprint of a girl practicing at the piano, with lots of process photos and some inspiration from other printmakers around the internet.
  • Then, the third gelli plate monoprint post is a still life around a dinner table, with process tips to pay attention to based on a few of the hiccups I stumbled upon.
  • The fourth monoprint gelli plate with ballpoint is a couple of dogs, in a smaller format, with encouragement to stay the course with this printmaking process, till your efforts start to really bear fruit (it is worth it).
  • The fifth gel plate ballpoint drawing transfer is a little larger, and its a portrait of a dad twirling his little girl in the backyard, with links to some inspiring essays and videos that are art-related.
Continuing with Sashiko stitching experiments on ripped jeans in the evenings. 🙂

California Summer Adventures

I just started a small, figurative linocut, and two watercolors, during some California summertime adventuring.

Let me know if you’d like to hear about recent boating exploits over on Catalina Island (see the water below). There was swimming, hiking, and art-making involved, so it’s not too far afield of this art blog… pinky promise.

Thanks for stopping by and I’ll see you in the next post –

Belinda

P.S. I got a flurry of questions when I mentioned a marathon session of botanical prints from gelli plates, so I’m happy to write something about that if you’d like. Let me know in the comments.

The color of the water at Emerald Bay on Catalina Island is very paintable…

Art Quote

All you need to know and observe in yourself is this: Whenever you feel superior or inferior to anyone, that’s the ego in you.

Eckharte Tolle
Scout sends a hello. He wants to know how are your art adventures going?

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13 thoughts on “Gel Plate Drawing Transfer Monoprint with Acrylic Paint and Colored Pencils”

  1. The Pak Crafts

    Hey there, Belinda! Your Gel Plate Drawing Transfer Monoprints are truly captivating! The combination of acrylic paint and colored pencils brings a wonderful dimension to the artwork. I love how you explained your process and shared the close-up shots. The vibrant colors on the gelli plate prints are so magical! Can’t wait to see your watercolors and linocut experiments too. Keep up the fantastic work, and please do share about your botanical prints marathon—I’m definitely interested! Art adventures are going well here, and Scout sends a warm hello back!

    Reply
  2. Kendal Hopkins

    Thank you for these occasional posts ~ always enjoy. I love my gel plate and would appreciate your take on botanical prints. They are some of my favorite and as it’s summer here, loads of leaves, grasses, weeds to play with.

    Reply
    1. Belinda Del Pesco

      Hi Kendal, Thanks for your feedback… I will add a gel plate botanical print post to my list of content drafts. I agree that summertime offers an overwhelming variety of possibilities just by taking a walk. Have so much fun with it.

      Reply
  3. Quinn Piper

    Dear Belinda – you are a wonderful artist and I am so grateful to you for sharing your work and your detailed process descriptions. I’m in my 6th year of daily markmaking, and you are inspiring me to expand into new things: ordering a gel plate tonight. Thank you!
    Dear Scout – Moxie and Della send warm regards 🙂

    Reply
    1. Belinda Del Pesco

      Dear Quinn, Moxie and Della, Me and Scout hope that your gel plate arrived, and you’ve adventured into botanical printmaking with aplomb. Scout especially hopes there were some reedy grasses to bat round and wrestle with. Happy making to you, and thanks so much for your encouragement.

      Reply
  8. Judy Kane

    I love seeing your work! Would I like to see MORE? More than strawberries love cream and cake! Thanks for inspiring me!❤️

    Reply
  9. Christine Hirsch

    Hi Belinda,
    Your work is amazing- color, detail and so creative. I love seeing each of your new posts!
    Chris

    Reply

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