Creating Impressions of Place with Leaf Mask Organic Prints on the Gel Plate

If you've been in the loop with my current studio work you'll know I've been out sketching and drawing in my local area gathering visual information, mainly about leaf shapes. I've brought this idea back into the studio and onto the gel plate to create this two step printing process for making new collage papers.

There such a high degree of relevance for me in creating prints from plants growing on the land that I'm referencing in my paintings.

To that end, I am looking at starting some larger pieces and wanted to experiment with some new printmaking ideas before I make a start.

You can follow along by watching my Vlog video at the end of this post and check out my studio notes below.

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| Materials & Supplies

I used two different gel plates for this printing session. The smaller one of the two I used like a palette for rolling out the black paint for the first part of the process and the second, larger gel plate for making the actual prints.

The black paint was just regular inexpensive tube type from Officeworks.

I like the viscosity of these tube paints for print making.

I gathered two leaf types with very different characteristics - the long spiny ones are Grevillea leaves and the round ones are from an Australian native called the Jack Bean Vine. Having two very different leaf shapes was the key to the success of these prints.

| First Impressions

I laid the spiny Grevillea leaves out on the bench and then placed a sheet of wet strength tissue over the top.

There is a slightly glossy side to wet strength tissue paper so I made sure to have that side facing up - so that the paint would be rolled onto the glossy side.

Having rolled out the paint on the small gel plate and made sure the roller had plenty of paint on, I simply worked the roller over the top of the paper with enough pressure to take an impression from the leaves on the bench.

I made several of these sheets at the same time and set them aside to dry.

| The Printing Process

The next step in the process was to layer paint onto the larger gel plate evenly.

I then placed the Jack Bean leaves onto the plate in a random pattern leaving some space between the leaves to ensure the black paint on the gel plate was visible.

Taking a sheet of the Grevillea impressions, I placed it face down on top of the gel plate. The Jack Bean leaves acted as a mask.

Applying enough pressure either with a roller or my hands was essential in making sure I got nice clean, sharp leaf shapes.

| The Final Print

The final prints are layered with the two leaf shapes and have a wonderful organic feel which will be perfect for the base layer of collage in my net paintings.

I'll also try this two step process with other contrasting leaf shapes and experiment with different colour combinations.

I love to try my experiments in monochrome to begin with as I can really see the shapes, forms and textures clearly without the distraction of colour.

But having done that there are plenty more experiments to be done and it's a fun and easy way to create layered prints without the use of commercial stencils.

Each one is highly unique and has pattern-like qualities which I will explore further - and in colour!

| Regular Gel Plate Leaf Print

The Jack Bean leaves printed up beautifully too in their own way - nothing goes to waste in my studio - there's a place for everything so even though these were 'secondary' prints from the session they are just as valuable.

| Graphic Print Pattern

I love my patterns and these leaves, though larger, reminded me so much of the Mallee leaves I've been using. There's something so lovely about the roundness of them! So I did make a couple of graphic prints just to get a feel for their shapes, as these may crop up in later paintings too.

| Leaf Mask Print Vlog Video

Enjoy my video about the making these two-step layered gel prints as I talk you through my process.

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