More litho prints

I have really got into the stone litho technique I have wrote about in previous posts because of all the different type of marks you can create. I did these drawings in my loose, colourful style, with the thought of turning them into prints.

 

Doing the forest scene screen print has helped me develop the idea of overlapping colors to create more colours and tones. I wanted to try this with litho, the inks we use to do litho print are oil, not acrylic like in screen print, so you can add more transparent white which makes the layers overlap easily.

I started two prints at once, these photos show the prints with three layers. I used the same green and yellow inks on two layers just using a different colour on one layer, its really interesting to show how the change in one of the colours can change the vibe of the print.

By making the print up in layers it gives me a lot more options for experimenting with the composition- the first layer was the  lime green block shape and in some prints I have this at the top of the print and on others at the bottom which completely changes the balance of the print.  

This is one of the prints I have since put on two more layers making it up to 5. I  think I want to put another 2 more layers onto it I think it needs a line drawing over the top to bring the hole piece together, but I am pleased with it as I love how each element has combined. 

So far I have only done stone litho but this week I have learnt how to do plate litho. 

The technique and effect is similar but you draw onto a metal plate which has been filed to give it a surface texture which mimics stone. As for the drawing it is the same but because the sheets are that much larger than the stone, I have been able to draw on all the elements of my image onto one sheet and then ink them up one at a time which makes the posses a lot quicker than stone litho- I printed 2 colours yesterday and a further one today.

The first layer I printed was a background rectangle which I printed in a very pale cream colour. When researching litho prints done by artists such as Matisse, printing a background was a common technique he used; It  has a sort of grounding effect, stopping the image floating off in the paper. 

This is a technique I wanted to try. I decided to draw a smaller background than my image because I like the difference when a layer prints on top of a colour compared to on top of the plain paper. 

The difference is quite subtle because of the ink is quite translucent but I think it will be quite interesting. I am excited to see how the print comes out as there are 5 more layers to print.