Unlock Your Creativity with Gelli Printing Workshops

20th December 202420th December 2024 | samwaters123

Gelli plate with inks botanicals and a stencil

Explore Gelli Printing

If you’ve ever wanted to explore printmaking in a fun and approachable way, attending a Gelli print workshop is the perfect opportunity to let your creativity flow. Whether you’re a complete beginner or an experienced artist looking to add a new dimension to your studio practice, Gelli printing offers a versatile and rewarding way to create unique, layered artwork.

So, let’s talk about what can you expect from a Gelli print workshop, and the benefits that experimenting with this medium can bring to your creative practise.

A Warm and Welcoming Environment

I recently ran a Gelli Print workshop in a local café, collaborating with the owner who provided delicious food. If you are looking for an experience as well as learning a new technique then I suggest you look for a workshop that offers more than just the practical lessons. Find one that welcomes you with a hot drink or perhaps lunch is included with the workshop. This gives you a chance to chat to other creatives, sharing ideas, or just have a catch up. This will set a relaxed tone for the day. A friendly and supportive environment will help you feel at ease and ready to experiment.

table of paints with a brayer ready for rolling on to a gelli plate

What to Expect – An Introduction to the Basics

At the start of the workshop, you will usually receive a demonstration of basic Gelli print techniques. It is important to get confident with the basics, learn how to apply paint to the Gelli plate, blend colours, and use simple techniques to create stunning patterns. My biggest tip is less is more, in the workshops I have led students tend to put way too much paint on the plate, they soon learn that a very thin layer will produce intriguing results. An introduction to the basics will ensure you feel confident before you begin your own creative exploration.

Using botanicals as inspiration is super accessible and will produce some fabulous and often unexpected results. Just pick some leaves on your way to the workshop from your garden or hedgerow. Try using leaves, flowers, and natural materials to create intricate and organic prints. You’ll discover how to layer these elements and explore textures to bring your prints to life.

hands-on experimentation

The true joy of Gelli printing lies in the hands-on experience. Just roll up your sleeves and start creating your own prints using a variety of papers, botanicals, and techniques. Don’t worry about making mistakes — the fun is in the experimentations. Embrace the unexpected results that make each print unique. In the images below you will see the use of a mask to generate a negative and positive print.

benefits of gelli printing

1. No Pressure, Just Play: Gelli printing encourages a playful and experimental mindset, helping to overcome creative blocks and fear of making mistakes.

2. Immediate Results: Unlike many art forms, Gelli printing offers instant gratification. You’ll see your ideas come to life within minutes.

3. Mindfulness and Relaxation: The process of rolling paint, pressing leaves, and peeling paper away can be incredibly therapeutic and stress-relieving.

4. Unique and One-of-a-Kind: Each print you create is a monoprint, meaning it’s one-of-a-kind — no two prints are ever exactly the same.

5. Applicable to Other Projects: The skills you learn can be used in other creative areas like mixed media, card-making, and collage art.

A Gelli print workshop is more than just learning a new skill — it’s about discovering the joy of creativity, embracing the unexpected, and taking time for yourself. Let me know how you use a Gelli Plate in your studio practise.

Rich Textures and Vibrant Colours: ‘Urban Whispers’ | Focal Point Art

Framed Urban inspired painting on a plain wall above a sideboard with an armchair with vases

15th June 202428th July 2025 | Sam Waters

Imagine walking into your newly redecorated living room, the light catching on an original piece of art that not only enhances the space but becomes the conversation starter for everyone who enters. This is the essence of “Urban Whispers,” a standout piece from my Urban Exploration collection. Click here to explore the painting.

I am obsessed by old industrial buildings, and love to imagine the history and stories within them. My studio is based close to the Ironbridge Gorge an area steeped in industrial history, which is where I find my inspiration for the Urban Exploration Collection.

Framed Urban inspired painting on a plain wall above cream sofa with orange cushions and a white standing lamp

Unique and One-of-a-Kind

“Urban Whispers” is not just a painting; it’s a unique expression of the beauty you see in old industrial buildings, the texture, patterns and energy captured on canvas. Unlike mass-produced prints, this original artwork ensures that your home reflects a distinct and personal style. You won’t find another piece exactly like it, meaning your space will truly stand out.

Rich Textures and Dynamic Composition

The richly textured layers and vibrant interplay of colours in “Urban Whispers” bring a dynamic energy to your room. The intricate details and the complexity of the composition create a focal point that draws the eye and sparks the imagination. It’s not just decor—it’s an experience. One of our customers raved, “Wow! Love the cool urban vibe,” capturing the essence of what this piece brings to any space.

old industrial building interior showing structure and sky lights

preparatory sketches for urban paintings

Personal Connection and Story

Each brushstroke and colour choice in “Urban Whispers” is a part of my journey and vision, making this piece a personal statement that you can share with guests. This painting comes with a story, one that you can connect with and proudly display in your home. The images above show stages in my process from taking the photograph on location, playing with composition and the early stages of building texture.

Versatility and Inspiration

“Urban Whispers” is designed to complement various interior styles, from modern to eclectic. Its bold colors and textures can tie together different elements in your decor, adding coherence and sophistication to your space. This versatility makes it a perfect fit whether you’re redecorating, moving into a new home, or looking to refresh a single room. The images below show details from the paintings showing the richness of texture and colour.

Close up detail of original urban painting cross detail, brickwork and mesh in golds, oranges with hints of darks and pops of teal

Investment in Original Art

By choosing “Urban Whispers,” you’re not only enhancing your living space but also investing in original art. This piece, created with high-quality materials and crafted with care, offers potential value appreciation over time. Owning an original painting like this is a testament to your support of the arts and your unique taste.

Incorporating “Urban Whispers” into your home is more than just a decorative choice—it’s a statement of individuality and a step towards creating an environment that is uniquely yours. Let this piece solve the problem of finding unique art that truly stands out and transforms your space into an extraordinary reflection of your personal style.

Ready to transform your space with a one-of-a-kind piece of art? Discover how ‘Urban Whispers‘ can make your home truly unique. Click here to explore the painting further.

Click to View

Travel Sketchbook Fun

28th April 202428th July 2025 | Sam Waters

Traveling is a remarkable adventure, filled with new experiences, sights, and stories. What if you could capture those moments not just in photographs but in a more personal, creative way? Enter the travel sketchbook, a compact and versatile companion for any journey.

Embrace the Creative Process

The beauty of a travel sketchbook lies in its flexibility. It’s a personal canvas where you can sketch landscapes, flowers, animals, jot down thoughts, create collages, and even experiment with mixed media.

There’s no pressure to make it perfect—each page is a unique snapshot of your journey. As you create, you’ll find that the act of sketching helps you see the world in a different light, appreciating details and capturing memories in a way that photos alone can’t.

Create a Lasting Keepsake

By the end of your trip, your sketchbook becomes a cherished keepsake filled with personal stories, artistic experiments, and a tangible record of your travels.

Unlike a digital album, a travel sketchbook has a tactile quality that invites you to revisit and relive your journey with every turn of the page. As you are creating it sparks conversations with fellow travellers you meet along the way.

Take a look at some of the pages from my travel sketchbooks below.

So, on your next adventure, bring along a travel sketchbook. It doesn’t just capture where you’ve been—it captures how you felt, what you saw, and the unique moments that made your journey unforgettable.

In my next blog I will be sharing my own travel sketchbook from a recent trip to Baja. I will be sharing my top tips for having just the right media in your pencil case to ensure you can capture your experiences, so why not sign up to my mailing list to ensure you don’t miss it.

If you have been keeping your own travel sketchbooks I’d love to hear of how this works for you, do you have any top tips to share? Do you prepare your books before you go? It would be great to hear your experience, please comment below.

If you would like to share pages from your own travel sketchbooks I would love to feature them in my next blog post and on my social media. Please email them to me – sam@samwatersartist.com

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a joyful Artist Collaboration

10th March 202428th July 2025 | Sam Waters

How it all Started

My sketchbook collaboration project started from an act of kindness really. I had seen on social media that artist Sue Bulmer was focussing for a whole year on creating concertina sketchbooks as a way to fuel her creative soul. Her plan was to create one sketchbook every month.

how could i reach out

As an artist I seem to generate and collect lots of collage papers, too many to ever use myself. As I sat in my studio surrounded by mountains of collage paper, I was inspired by Sue’s project and thought I should send her some of my collage papers for her to use in her sketchbooks. I was thinking how much I would enjoy receiving a package of papers from another artist.

What marks, what colours, textures and types of papers would be different to those that I usually use.

So I selected a range of handmade and found papers, wrote a note, packaged it all up and sent it off in the post…I don’t think Sue will mind if I say that she was very surprised and overjoyed to receive such a surprise package in the post.

Package tie with string and collage papers

What happened next

We arranged to have a video call so we could chat, we immediately hit it off and soon decided that we should think of a combined project that we could work on together, our sketchbook collaboration project was born.

Mindful and very low pressure

We wanted it to be low key with no pressure as we both already had pretty full schedules, we made our own rules, or rather decided not to have any! The basis of the project was that we both made a concertina sketchbook, each of us would work on a few pages in any way we chose and then we would post the book to the other artist for them to carry on.

It was fun to receive the book in the post, to see what Sue had done and what goodies she had sent for me to work with. I found working in the book calming, it didn’t have any expected outcome, just a fun few hours. Once I started in the studio, the pages took on a life of their own.

A friendship has been formed

From that moment our friendship has grown, we now have regular video calls and even arranged an in person meet to exchange our sketchbooks, visit a gallery and have a lovely art chatty lunch.

Sam Waters and Sue Bulmer exchanging sketchbooks artists

two concertina sketchbooks with a hand pointing

A joyful resource

The books we have made are a joyful playful resource. Packed full of colour and marks, one very pink the other blues. Some pages shout that they need some calm, others need more to be added. Already we have been working for just over a year and there is more to come.

I would highly recommend thinking about doing your own collaboration project as it is a great way to spark new ideas, make connections, push you to respond to marks and colours that you may never have chosen.

How to start you own creative collaboration

Find out how to start your own creative collaboration in my next blog post.

Want to know more about our collaboration project ? Then why not enter your email below to receive my newsletter where I share updates of our progress.

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Jumping into Spring

Pile of Line, tonal and colour floral drawings, floral paintings, floral studies, floral inspiration

6th March 202428th July 2025 | Sam Waters

The long dark days of winter offer a chance to hunker down in the studio, to re-build my creative energy, to read for inspiration and experiment in my sketchbook, but I long for the brighter warmer days when the studio door can be left open and I can hear the bird song floating on the air and everything just seems that little bit lighter. I am an abstract floral artist, so join me as I delve into how Spring is weaving its magic into my creative practise, bringing colour and joy.

Spring sparking action

When the days start to get longer in the UK, I know that Spring is finally here and my studio becomes bathed in this new light, I’ve no idea why but I find it so much easier to work, my energy levels rise and creativity starts to flow.

The arrival of Spring has also meant a studio tidy, it is really important to set up my environment to allow my new work to have room to breathe. It is very frustrating constantly tripping over stuff and rooting through piles of papers to find the tool that I need buried beneath.

colour inspiration and new shoots

Spring is a time for new shoots, and this is how I feel about starting my latest collection of paintings, at this point I’m not even sure where they are heading but having a clean clutter free space with all the tools, paints, mediums and surfaces ready to go will be more productive.

Out and about on my walks I am noticing more colour, the trees are bursting out in fantastic displays of frothy colour. The camellia have been spectacular and so many varieties just on my daily dog walk around the block. The flower is quite rose like in structure, but so hardy producing prolific flowers in every shade of pink, deep reds, and delicate whites at a time of year when most plants are still sleeping.

how to maintain creative momentum

As there isn’t much colour about at the moment I have really been struck by these beautiful bushes. Where the blooms have been hanging over the pavement, I have picked a stem to take back to the studio for some blind drawing practise. I draw the same bloom multiple times, using different media, both wet and dry. This practise really makes me see how the petals are structured, where the light and dark tones fall, the different shapes and how the waxy leaves are juxtapose to the soft satiny petals.

Gorgeous Pinks

The blind, tonal drawings and sketchbook play which capture the essence of Spring in these floral beauties have inspired new elements of shape, vivid colours and a softness for me to explore further in larger studies.

Whats on the Studio Wall

Detail of black and white floral line drawing

Line, tonal and colour floral drawings pinned to the wall

Spring Summary

As I immerse myself in the vibrant hues of spring and let nature guide my creative practise, I’m reminded of the renewal of the season. With a clutter free studio and the palette Spring I am jumping in with both feet ready to explore fresh inspiration and experimental discoveries.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the new season and if you are including it in your own creative practise, please let me know in the comments below, or send me an email.

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Three super simple top tips to help abstract painters generate new ideas

Collage picture of rusty farm roller, cropped to show composition, two images in black and white

15th February 202328th July 2025 | Sam Waters

In this Blog post I want to share how I use photos I took on a recent trip to Cornwall to help inspire my work and share some image manipulation tips to help spark inspiration for generating new ideas.

The trip was a flying work visit and there really was very little time to be creative in my sketchbook as by the end of the day I was totally exhausted and not feeling at all creative. Yet each day during my lunch break I always managed to get out for a walk, the weather was glorious with wall to wall sunshine and as I enjoyed the beautiful weather I spotted interesting things on my walk that captured my attention.

I always carry my phone so I took lots of pictures of an old rusty roller that I stumbled across on the side of the road.

This type of roller is used for rolling the fields. It improves seed to soil contact across the whole field by consolidating any loose soil left after drilling, this promotes successful and consistent germination which is the basis for a competitive crop.

The roller was pretty big, and very rusty with the ends displaying a vibrant shade of teal blue with deep scratch marks. The blue was in such contrast to the rusty shades so it really caught my eye. Blue and orange are known as complimentary colours sitting opposite each other on the colour wheel, already this old roller has potential. I took lots of close ups of the colours, marks and shapes, I was starting to get a fizzy feeling about this old, rusty roller.

So how can these quick snaps help me in my painting? It really is quite a simple process; here are 3 tips to help you get started.

Tip 1

Go through the images and edit them using the cropping tool, picking out the details that have interested you, this might be; colour combinations, shapes, textures or lines.

Duplicate the photo so that you can make several different crops of the same image. Try rotating the image to see how it looks, does it make you notice something different? Try putting the image into black and white, and also simplifying the shapes.

Close-up of an old rusty roller on grass, showing vibrant teal blue and rusty textures.

Tip 2

Print the images and make photocopies so you have a selection to play with. Next cut them up, rearrange and stick different combinations together. Be discerning in your choices.

Tip 3

Now that you have a few ideas, take out your sketchbook and create rough thumbnail sketches, at this stage you can tweak the composition. Try using black, white and grey. Concentrate on the shapes and negative shapes and keep it simple.

Close-up images of a rusty surface showcasing vibrant teal and orange colors, with one image displaying no color and the other saturated with color.

These three easy techniques start to spark ideas which might later end up in a finished painting. This playing stage is so much fun and there can be endless combinations.

So even on a busy work day I can find time to see the joy in something that I walk past, elevating the everyday! Whether that is shape, colour, line, marks or texture, I pick out the elements that give me a nudge and that is all the starting point that I need.

Sometimes these studies remain in my sketchbook as a record of the feelings, thoughts or experience I had at that specific time. They may inform other larger studies or even a body of work at a later date. Either way is fine by me, no pressure to create just enjoying something in what some people would just walk straight past.

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