Louise Allen . . . . . life drawing and printmaking.

I am a Yorkshire based artist mainly working in print, my inspiration is ‘drawn from life’ with my prints developed from figurative life-drawings and observations of natural forms.

I am passionate about both life drawing and print making, and my work is experimental, exploring different ways to bring the two together. I look for the abstract patterns and a sense of movement within my drawings to develop textural collagraph prints.

Three main themes in my recent work are waves, figures and my local environment, the work can be seen on the link pages 'wave after wave' 'drawn from life'.

Collagraph is an intaglio printing process which is good for working with tones, more recently I have developed my practice towards colour by making Gelle plate prints as the starting point for paintings and collages

I am a print member at the Art House, Wakefield.

I do life drawing regularly with Westgate Studios, Wakefield and Top Draw, Barnsley.

I have recently completed an MA in Creative Practice at Leeds Arts University.

Since 2019 I have taken part in print exchanges with Green Door (USA) , IPE Derby, 20:20 Manchester and The Makers Studio, Australia.
Three small acrylic paintings were sold in aid of Nottinghamshire wildlife Trust's charity.
In 2020 I had a mini exhibition of my prints at 'Books on the Lane' Walton
My life drawing print 'Two boys and the spaces between' was selected for Wakefield Art Walk 31st March 2021 and subsequently displayed on the City's art trail.
My 'North Yorkshire Coast' collagraph print was selected by Network Rail for their 'Wish I was there' post-lockdown traveling exhibition and displayed at mainline stations in August 2021 My print 'Dunstansburgh castle' was also included in the exhibition and both now have a permanent home at York Railway Museum.
My print 'Ursus Maritimus/Polar bear blues' was selected for Explorers against Extinction's annual 'Sketch for Survival' charity auction. It was in the top 100 artworks submitted and displayed at the OXO Tower in London before being auctioned in November 2021. This print was also shortlisted for a prize.
I had a SOLO exhibition as part of Wakefield's Art-Walk (open studios) on 30th March 2022, My prints were be on display and for sale at 'the big room' Westgate Studios.
I was commissioned to create a print on behalf of Leeds Arts University for 'The anonymous heART' charity auction, it was auctioned on behalf of Heart research UK in November 2022.
I exhibited my figurative work at Leeds Arts University post-graduate show in September 2022.
My mini prints of Sandal Castle are on display in the Sandal Castle Cafe.
I took part in the 20:20 studios print exchange for 2022 with The Art House Wakefield.

2023

I exhibited a curated selection of prints at The Big Room, Westgate Studios for 25th January's Artwalk, the theme of the exhibits was 'Blueprints'.
I opened a small shop within the Artists Commune in Wakefield, this initiative is used a vacant Laura Ashley store to display artist's work and hold art music and wellbeing activities, it is currently on hold after the lease ended
I have been exploring collage by taking courses with a number of established collage artists and am now exploring ways of incorporating this with my printmaking in mixed media outcomes.
My collagraph monoprint Running Man/ the Pass was included in a printmaker's group exhibition at The Art House in April.
My mixed media works on the theme of 'spring' (below) were exhibited at the Open Gallery Halifax, during May.
In August two of my paintings developed from Gelle prints were exhibited and sold at The Old Lock-up Gallery in Crompton Derbyshire as part of the secret postcard exhibition.
My collagraph prints 'ordinary treasures' have been submitted for the 2023 20: 20 print exchange.

My print (bottom right) displayed with the other 20:20 prints from The Art House printmakers.

Collage explorations.

Running man/The pass.

'Spring' collages for the Open Gallery. Halifax

Gelle print postcards for the Old Lock up Gallery, Derbyshire.

Contact Me

louizelouize@yahoo.co.uk