I’m Continuing with my 100 days of collage project. This project is inspired by Froyle Davies. She has created the class, “Celebrate your creative self: Mixed media art class; 100 days of collage,” on SkillShare.

Days 6 and 7 of the course use two things that I love: layers and Gel plate printing! You can buy gel plates in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Like this one HERE.

Here is an image of the Gel plate papers I made.

I used various techniques when creating the Gel print papers from stamps and stencils to writing and found objects.

The majority of stencil masks were created very simply. All I did was cut out shapes in thin cardboard like the tree below. I then used these cardboard masks to create shapes on my gel prints.

To create script patterns I used the blunt end of a paintbrush to create marks in the paint.

I had a great time making up a collection of papers in colours and shapes that I enjoy.

I then used my papers to create the collages for day 6 and Day 7.

For day six I wanted to use as many Gel printed papers as possible. I also used some of the cardboard stencils I made for printing in my collage. I used the stencils as collage paper- the tree shape is a stencil I made a while back. I glued it on top to make a focal point.

For day 7 we focused on layering. To do this we made marks on top of our existing gel plate prints and collage papers. For example I used an acrylic paint pen to write on top of the black gel prints. I then layered the papers on top of each other in my collage.

The butterfly focal points are butterflies I created from a colouring book. I then cut them out and used them as collage fodder. I again used some of my hand made stencils as collage elements.

That concludes the first 7 days of my 100 days of collage project!

I am keeping all of my collages together in an art journal. The journal is a Mixed media paper pad. Each collage is A4 in size and the paper is 250 gsm. The paper is thick enough to hold wet mediums and withstand a lot of glue. You can find a similar book here.

So far I have loved exploring art through the medium of mixed media collage. It has been a great way to loosen up and play!

Through this low-stakes art-making process I am learning a lot about what I do and don’t like.

For example, I have discovered that I like using music, book pages and gel prints in my collages.

In terms of shapes, I tend to be drawn to circles and curved shapes. I have found this in my other non-collage works, like my life drawings.

I like using pattern in my work, in particular script, dots and mark making. I am also finding myself drawn to the colours magenta and blue.

Black and white looks striking and I enjoy adding metallic colours.

I am looking forward to continuing to learn more about myself and my artwork through this 100-day challenge. I hope you will continue to follow along on this journey! Maybe you will be inspired to make some collages of your own!