Printing Process
A few words about Penelope
Melbourne based Australian Printmaker, Penelope Le Petit produces limited edition prints for exhibition. Specialising in plate lithography she attended Northern Melbourne Institute of TAFE graduating in 2000 with a Diploma in Visual Arts, Photography and in 2003 from the Victorian College of the Arts with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, Printmaking. Since then she has combined mark making, photography and collage to give more depth to her images.
Penelope is inspired by themes such as the migrant experience, relationships and the courage of the human spirit. She invites the viewer to work with the abstraction and ambiguity of her use of themes and form their own connections with her images.
Over the years Penelope has produced a number of limited edition print series using the lithographic print process. The images in the gallery are a snapshot of Penelope’s unique and exciting work. Please contact Penelope if you are interested in her work.
The Lithographic Process
Plate lithography differs from the other printing processes of relief and intaglio in that the final impression is taken from a completely flat surface.
To make a print Penelope draws an image on transparent material and expose via a light box onto a thin aluminium photo sensitised plate. The drawn or photographic image must be dense enough to block the ultra violet light and leave an impression on the aluminium photo-plate. She develops the photo plate in a developing solution, much like photographic paper, then dry and rub the plate with a protective coating.
Photo plates are generally printed on a Commercial Offset Press, although Penelope is the proud owner of a Single Direct Press. Unlike offset printing the printed image is always reversed on the plate. The plate is inked with a large roller using commercial printing inks and good quality archival printing paper. She sponges a thin film of water on the plate before rolling to repel the ink from the area surrounding the image. Each plate makes up a multicoloured final image. Penelope likes to print limited editions and generally does not print more than 20 of one image.
