Artful August Circle Journal Page
Posted: August 5, 2021 Filed under: Art Journal, basket weave, Christmas bush, Darkroom Door, fragments, gel press, gelli plate, little swirls, mesh, Nature Walk, Paper Rose, Wildflowers Vol 2 | Tags: Art Journal, Darkroom Door stamps, gel press, gel printing, gelli plate 6 Comments
Rachel Greig from Darkroom Door is hosting ‘Artful August’, a challenge to make something arty each day in August. She has provided 31 prompts and I am going to play along as often as I can. Circles was the prompt yesterday so I cut circles from a just few of the many gel print panels I have piling up. I used only gelprints done on rice paper and they cut and adhered very easily.
Once I had cut circles in different sizes from different gel printed panels I stamped flower silhouettes from several Darkroom Door sets. Before gluing the circles to the pages I painted the pages with a base of gesso + light brown paint and added some scribbly circles by tracing inside circle dies.
I glued the printed, stamped circles with matte medium both on the back of the paper and over the top to seal it. To add a bit more interest around the circles I blended antique linen ink through a homemade paper stencil.
The prompts in the challenge are very open and participants are encouraged to interpret them in any way and with any medium. If you are on instagram you can view the submissions by searching for #artfulaugust or #rachelgreigartfulaugustchallenge
As I participate in the challenge I will have simple experiments along with some completed projects like this one. The fun is simply playing with the prompts. In making today’s journal pages I was very happy to use some pretty scraps, experiments and clean up pages from gel printing sessions. There are always too many to turn into cards but each one has a unique texture and colour mix.
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Heather Telford 
Fabulous look with all the circles with brilliant gelli plate backgrounds and foliage and flowers over the top Heather. Such a beautiful journal page. x
This look SO fun to do using all those gelli prints. Love the additional stamping on them as well as the work in your background! I also love the rich contrast between the circles and the background. This one makes me smile!
Thank you Heather for continuing to share your work and play. It is always so inspiring and beautiful and you make it easy to play alongside with your careful descriptions. I speak for many when I say we truly appreciate you and your postings, thank you again!!
[…] During August Rachel Greig from Darkroom Door has been hosting a challenge with prompts everyday to be interpreted in any artsy way you like. I haven’t managed to participate regularly but I have enjoyed making a few simple cards along with some gel prints and a journal page. […]
Very cool Heather. I have not seen “salt” used before for a technique? Hoe does this work? I love all the backgrounds in the circles – make an interesting page for sure.
Hi Marian, the watercolour & salt technique is very simple and effective. I have a video showing my process here: https://cards.heathertelford.com/2020/05/29/masked-wildflowers-video/