finally using my gelliplate ....

Thanks so much for your sweet, warm, supporting comments and emails. I so appreciate it, and it helps me through in rough moments. Warm hug to you all ♥

I finished another doodle, once again with birds and little figures. These images just keep coming to me and I don't want to fight it, I just let it be. But I googled a bit on bird-symbolism, and it seems that since ancient times mankind has considered birds to be signs of eternal life. Many cultures believe that they are the link between heaven and earth. The ability to fly and soar high up in the sky is closely associated with the ability to be near heavens, as well as the ability to serve as messengers from heaven.
 

I find that really interesting. I had been using a lot of birds in my artwork before, but since my sister's death it really has intensified. And reading about their symbolism now I can understand why. I must've known about this on some subconscious level. And the little figures ...? Well, I think they stand as a symbol for my sister, the feeling that she is around us, even if we don't see her and can't communicate with her, she is there, somewhere, looking out for us, letting us know that everything will be all right.

I find that a comforting feeling, and as long as they want to keep popping up in my art, I will let them. For me it's a way of coping with what happened. I am so glad that I have art to help me cope.

I told you in my last post that I'd been busy with all kinds of creative things last week. One of these things was making prints on fabric with a gelliplate.

After experimenting with a home-made gelliplate (I wrote about it in this post) back in January, I ordered a "real" one. Alas, I never received the parcel, it got lost somewhere in the mail. Luckily, I got my money back, so in February I ordered another one (with registered post this time....), and ever since I got it, it has been standing in my bookcase waiting for me to use it.

Finally last week I got it out to paint some fabric. I want to make a little pouch for my phone, and I want to use painted fabrics for that.

I first used a lot of stencils, but I find it really hard to avoid making mud. It gets too dark very fast, and I wanted light, brightly coloured fabrics. So I got out my daughter's neon paints, and decided to just use colours from the same colourfamily, and not put too many layers on there.

I love the piece of fabric on the bottom at the left. I just put 2 colours (yellow and orange) on the gelliplate, and put some thread on there that came from the side of the fabric. That must be my favorite tool to use when using the gelliplate: string or thread.

I used stamps on the pieces that were too dark or too plain. I would've liked to do more with it, but I didn't have time and I'm in a hurry to make that pouch, since I want to make another one as a birthday present. Mine will be the practice-pouch ....

Today I ironed all the pieces to set the paint, and then threw them in the washingmachine to see whether the paint would hold. And yes, it did, even though I just used normal acrylic paint. Must be all the ironing that I did .... They're still a bit stiff though, but they'll have to do ...

Hopefully I'll be able to show you a finished pouch by Friday ☺

Thanks so much for visiting, I'll be back on Wednesday with another inspiring artist post. Hope to see you then ♥ ♥ ♥