Category / printing

by Leonie Andrews

Well that’s embarrassing !

I’m absolutely shocked to see that I haven’t posted here since last October!

It probably isn’t fair to blame visiting relatives over Christmas. It’s more to do with having to arrange some major work around the house, not to mention getting lost on other social media places.

Since I last posted, I have had a piece of my work, called ‘Pasture’, hung in the first exhibition of the newly formed Australian Walking Artists group. The piece is based on my travels to the United Kingdom in 2023. I was interested to see what if any connection I had with the country my family migrated from in the 19th century.

The Australian Walking Artists group is a very exciting development for me. It has given me a place where I can develop ideas that started to be realised as I walked the Camino de Santiago in 2023. There will be a further exhibition later in the year in another regional town in New South Wales. It’s such an inspiration to be working with a group of like-minded artists.

Apart from that, I have been working on my latest YouTube videos. I fell down that hole during COVID lockdown, and I have found making videos, frustrating,  time-consuming, and rather addictive. I have discovered that I love editing, even though it’s often like wrestling an octopus while trying to organise a fancy dinner party 🥳 (my computer suggested that emoji). I’m not a big fan of sudoku, so I had to do something else.

Here’s a link to the latest video, just in case you need to learn how to use transparent paints with your gelli plate to print onto fabric.

by Leonie Andrews

How to print textures

When is a texture a pattern and vice versa? In my latest gelli printing video I play around with printing textures onto cloth. I spent a lot of time mucking around with a piece of ratty old hessian I found in our garden shed, which only goes to show that it doesn’t take a lot to amuse an artist.

Fun with hessian!

Here is the short promo I did for the longer video.

https://leonieandrews.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/wp-1647641491457.mp4

Never a dull moment!

The full video can be found here https://youtu.be/SwOWt6OQS3k

by Leonie Andrews

Gelli Print

I have been doing a lot of gelli printing lately – that’s using acrylic paints on a gel plate – a type of monoprinting. During our most recent lockdown it’s kept me happily away from the street. I have been working on printing onto fabric which is a bit different to printing on paper.

  • Some of the various paints I use for printing.

I trained in screen printing at art school which is similar, but not quite the same as gelli printing. While I find gelli printing has some limitations, it also has many pluses. I like that it’s so simple to set up and print and I certainly don’t mind not having to transfer images to my screen (a multi-step process which was my least favourite part of printing).

I am also using up a whole stack of acrylic paints, some better than others. By also using a textile base (a clear paste) with the acrylic paints, these paints are easier to use on fabric and give the fabric a better “hand” that is make it more flexible and feel better after printing.

  • The ‘studio’ at the end of my kitchen. Inking up my plate with my rag for excess paint on the side.

I am focused on using the simplest of marks and materials for my prints. Most of my fabric is upcycled from clothes or old bed sheets.

I am really happy about the colour combinations I am achieving in my prints, particularly when I make simple two colour prints.

Some of my recent two colour prints.

In addition to all this printing I also decided to revive my, somewhat moribund YouTube channel by uploading some introductory videos on printing on fabric with a gelli plate. You can find my channel here.