For my first attempt at stone lithography, I decided to draw inspiration from the immediate surroundings of the printmaking workshop (just like I did for the mokuhanga workshop previously). The Son Boter possessió next door sits in the shade of some twisted, gnarly pins blancs (Aleppo pines, Pinus halepensis), with interesting lines and textures.
Following a rough sketch, I drew the tree directly onto the stone with the aim of creating a bit of movement and energy. Once I had an outline I was happy with, I set to work with a black lithographic pencil to define the lines and form of the trunk and branches.
I then painted on gum arabic to stop out areas of white and protect other parts of the drawing, before applying lithographic tusche and alcohol to achieve a different texture for the pine needles. The interaction between the tusche and the alcohol was mesmerising, and it’s this ‘giving over control’ to the materials for unexpected results that I love about printmaking.
The developed image had some lovely effects that couldn’t be seen at the drawing phase, and which only appeared once the stone had been prepared for printing. This was down to how the grease moved around the plate (due to the alcohol) and penetrates the stone, even if it’s not visible to the eye. This was a very happy accident, as it added to the sense of movement I was hoping to achieve.
