Art, Paper, Prints and Painting

  One of the things I love most about gel printing is the element of surprise. You roll on some paint, maybe add a stencil or press in a texture, pull the paper off the plate—and suddenly you’ve got something completely unexpected. Sometimes the print is gorgeous on its own, but a lot of the time I end up with papers that feel more like “hmm, interesting.” And that’s where collage comes in. Why They Work So Well Together Gel prints make the best collage material. All those textures, smudges, and layers of color become these beautiful little building blocks. Even the “not-so-pretty” prints take on new life when you rip them up and layer them with others. It’s like every scrap has potential—you just need to find where it fits. Here’s how I usually do it. Grab your print papers – The more variety, the better. Tear or cut – Sometimes I go for rough edges, sometimes clean shapes.  Play around – I move pieces around on my base until it starts to look reight. try to get a balance. I...

  I am not completely convinced that a web page will be worth the time and effort not to mention the cost! No matter what they say about AI making a web page for you in 20 seconds, it's  just not true.  Yes, it will generate a web page but it's  not actually any good as it still needs you to input your information, your thoughts, your style, influences, techniques and all the photos of your work. That, my dear readers is what takes time, effort and money. Yes, money. As a web page is not at all free. Even if you spend hours & hours creating a page with the help of AI, you still have to buy your domain, pay for hosting, pay for extras, so it is not free at all. After that you have to spend hours posting your work on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, linkedin and any other social media that you can think of.  It doesn't mean you will sell anything either. In fact your ideas and style can easily be copied. And it's  very difficult to control and police your wo...

  Gel Printing for Beginners: Unlocking Creativity with Colour and Texture Gel printing is an exciting, beginner-friendly art technique that blends colour, texture, and creativity into a single process. Using a gel plate—a soft, flexible surface—you can easily create unique prints for cards, scrapbooking, or mixed-media art. Here’s how to get started!   Materials You'll Need  Acrylic paints and alcohol inks are perfect for gel printing. Acrylics offer bold, opaque coverage, while alcohol inks create translucent, vibrant effects. Other essentials include a brayer (roller), paper or fabric to print on, and tools to create texture.   Creative Stencil Ideas Stencils are a must for adding pattern and depth. You don’t need expensive ones—make your own! Cut shapes from card stock, repurpose plastic packaging, or use household items like lace, leaves, or bubble wrap for unique patterns.   How to Gel Print  1. Squeeze a small amount of acrylic paint onto t...

 Hey, I'm back! Again?  😁 Ok I have been out of touch for a bit, Ha a bit sez you! More like a bit much.  But hey ho, here I am.  So now I am full of ideas and energy and I have been hard at work. I got really into Gelli printing recently so I will start with that.  First what is Gelli printing. Easy, its printing mono prints on a plate made from a type of glycerine. Wow cool. Yes its fun too. I bought the gel plate from Gelli Arts or on Amazon and you can suss it out here and see if you like the idea. Personally I love it. There is so much you can do, so many different textures and transfers you can make. And you use acrylic paint which means it dries really fast. Although if you want to slow it sown you can with a slow dry medium. But don't worry I'll take you through all the steps and before you know it you will be having great fun and coming up with all sorts of ideas for your own work.  Here is a sample of one of my prints. It's a photo transfer from ...

Etsy, Instagram or Exhibitions? Where Artists Should Sell Their Work in 2026 We are artists trying to make a living from our work. It's not easy and most of the time it's frustrating and downright depressing. But do we give up? No, we continue, we persevere and hope that one day we will find success. Success is different for everyone. For some it's to have a gallery take them on, for others to have an exhibition, for some it's to earn a living from their work, and others to sell enough to cover the cost of their materials. However, we don't give up. We've been told that social media is the way to go. We've read about success stories. Artists making enough from internet sales to give up the day job. But the reality is this. You get likes and the more artists and people you follow, the more likes you get. You write up your blog. You put your photos on Instagram, and FaceBook, you pin on Pinterest, you open a shop on Etsy, you link on Linkin. But tell me, how...

Next phase after putting the chapters together is binding the sections, glueing, and attaching the boards. I covered the boards with lovely blue paper and am ready to attach the book block to the boards. I use extra strong vinyl glue to be sure all will hold together and the advantage with this type of glue is that is it dries quickly and I can wash the brush with water. I'm really pleased with the finished book. There are nine in the limited edition, so it's a bit special. I will make some others which will be slightly different, so a separate edition.

Here is my recent work a combination of screen printed pages and handmade book. I started with working out the size I wanted for the book, number of pages and so forth. Then as I wanted to make a notebook for people to write their own text, memos etc but I still wanted to print images to decorate the inside. I settled on printing small trees which would be along the edge of the pages and not take up too much space and every two pages would be blank. Printed and ready to bind I really enjoy bookbinding. It takes a long time and lots of measurements but it's a satisfying process. I love the feel of paper and enjoy sourcing new decorative papers. The paper has to be both light weight but fairly strong, not to rigid but not too stiff either. Wallpaper for example just wont do. So japanese papers are probably a bit light even though they are beautiful. Come back in a few days and see how I'm getting on, see the finished book! Have you any advice, tips or tricks? I...

It's September, back to work, full of ideas to improve my blogs, my art, my inspiration. So whats new? Well, I'm planning my November exhibition, getting mailing list updated, planning the venue, planning the private viewing. This I think is important. People LOVE to be invited to a preview and a private view evening is perfect and in fact most sales can be generated from a private view. Then when the expo is open people see the red dots and think "hmm, as so many are sold I'd better buy too!" It's psychological and 9 times out of 10 it works! Win win! Have you any brill ideas for expositions?