Koi Sketch plus Gelli Print

Gelli Plate print using acrylic paint plus stencils 

Gelli Plate print with sketch of Koi in watercolor

You know the lucky accidents I mentioned? I just took a wonderful workshop with Elizabeth

St. Hilarie Nelson called Paper Painting Collage (more about that in a future post) and wanted

to start some sketches for a painted paper collage of Koi. When I leafed through my sketchbook

for a blank page I ran across a Gelli print that I'd pasted in.  The orange and red in the print sort

of reminded me of Koi so I tried a sketch, then added watercolor. Of course watercolor on top

of acrylic meant that the colors of the print shined through and also meant that I could rub the 

paint off where I wanted to and play with texture where the watercolor resisted the acrylic a

bit. I really love this effect and am looking forward to creating backgrounds more intentionally

for future sketches.