Wearing Out my Gelli Plate

Okay, I'm not really wearing it out, but it would be smoking if it could!

Since Roni died, I've found myself lacking in the artistic mojo department - I'd like nothing better than to sit and art journal or something, but it's just not happening.  I've crocheted a bit and have updated my Etsy (with only about a quarter of my stuff, but, hey, progress), but, every time I've tried to do something creative, I've floundered.  Big time.

This seemed like the perfect time to do some Gelli prints!

I'm doing this out of order, but that's okay. ;)  I dug through my pile of cast-off prints and found these three:

They are not pretty prints.  They're mostly ghost prints and cleaning of the brayer or the stencils, but I figured it would be a good challenge to make them into something that I might actually use.

Several pulls, adjustments, and layers later, I have these:

Holy cow so much better!!  I absolutely love the one in the middle with the leaves, although I generally like the whole "cover most of it with paint" thing, so that's not much of a surprise.

After two days of pulling print after print after print, I feel a little more like my mojo is starting to come back, which is a relief.  I'm feeling a little artistically constipated.

Have some Gelli Print eye candy!

With every print I pulled, I cleaned off my brayer on a page in my art journal, and I am absolutely IN LOVE with how it looked by the end of it.

SO MUCH YUM.

Now I need to decide what to do with this enormous stack of prints..

Adventures and Sorrow

Hello!

October is historically my favorite month, but this year I swear it tried to kill me.  It started out so innocently and fun with a trip to Stamford, Connecticut for vending at Art-is-You.  It was awesome to reconnect with some of my favorite people and make dollies do drunken things.

Ah poor drunken dollies.

I came home from Stamford and then immediately loaded the kids and the dog into The Manflesh's truck, and we drove to North Dakota, a 1600-mile drive.  Along the way I officiated over my brother's wedding, which was awesome.  I make goofy faces even in an official capacity.

I spent two days with my favorite cousin, which was amazing, and picked up a Harley.  I also made some skulls for her kitchen since I can't seem to leave anyone's house without leaving art behind.

On the way home, I entertained myself by listening to Welcome to Nightvale, too much Sirius Octane radio (developing an unhealthy obsession with the song Moth by Hellyeah in the process), and a twerking T-rex..

Three days and many miles later, we finally crawled our way back into the homestead, unloaded the Harley, returned the trailer, and passed out.  

My 17-year-old and his Harley.  Yikes. 

The next morning, we got a surprise houseguest, my adopted daughter Jenny.  Even the dog was happy to see her, and he hadn't even met her yet. 

This was two weeks of utter bananas crazy business followed by the gut-punch from the Universe, the shocking passing of my very best friend and soul-sister, Roni.  I've eulogized her, mourned her, consumed too much wine, rum, vodka, and Kahlua in honor of her, and I can't even begin to explain the mad ache in my heart without her.

I'd say rest in peace, but neither of us wants that.  Tear shit up, you crazy bitch.  <3 <3 <3