A fun way to incorporate the photo into a journal page is to use the photograph as a "guide print" for a mono print from a gel plate. Begin by sizing a digital photograph so that it fits underneath your printing/gel plate. I opted to use my 8" x 10" gel plate so the print here is slightly smaller. (My inkjet printer is B&W which is why the print is B&W. I then referred to the digital image on my cell phone if I needed a color guide.) Slip the inkjet print into an acetate sleeve to project the gel plate
and the print. Tape the acetate sleeve to your work table so it doesn't slip around and top with gel plate. Once this is situated, you're ready to begin. I wanted to make a two-pass mono print with the background printed first and the subject (flower) second.
I used acrylic paint for the background and subject. Because acrylic dries pretty fast, it is necessary to add a few drops of "extender" to each color of paint; stir, then apply the paints as usual. You will still need to work fairly quickly, so have everything you need all laid out and ready with a basin of water nearby to drop in the various tools that you use. I painted the lily and the leaves and then lined up the previously printed background and "pulled" the subject onto the background.
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| Ready to lay down the paper and pull the print. |
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| Extra paint left after the first print was pulled. |
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| The completed mono print which I then adhered to a double-page spread in my art journal. |
