Whenever I am looking for direction or inspiration, I like to create challenges for myself. I had a few goals with this challenge which has turned into what I consider a full study.

These were my guidelines:

I had to use my gel plate and confine the piece to the size of the plate
This forced me to leave some white space on the page. My typical practice is to cover the entire piece with color.
Each piece has a randomly generated word that helps direct the layers.
I pulled out a few different supplies (listed at the end) as I wanted just pick up items randomly and try them out
Look for opportunities to add contrast

I tried to make all of the pieces unique in layout and color which can be hard when you work on so many at a time. For each layer, I only gave myself a few minutes before moving on to the next piece. When I reach the end of the stack, I circled back to the top for the next layer.

In total, I have about 100 of these on the go. The ones I've included here are just a few that are inspiring me to continue. I'm not sure what the next layer holds but I'm looking forward to continuing the study. I even shared a few pages with my friend Erika and she added a few lines of poetry and prose based on what she saw.

Materials used: gel plate, acrylic paint, sharpie, graphite, stencils, crayons and anything else I could grab within arms reach. And all on a lovely cheap paper found in IKEA.