Lithographic apprenticeship and other meandering

Wed 15th Feb 2012

These images are of the poster that was produced to celebrate 25 years of Leicester Print Workshop. The poster was my set piece for the lithography apprenticeship. I printed 150 almost identical copies of the poster which has letter press wording and features the work of nine workshop members. A call was made within the studio and I got a fantastic array of different images which were put onto the stone using a variety of methods; photocopy transfer, gum paper transfer, monoprint and direct drawing onto the stone. Working on the poster was an amazing experience, both nerve wracking and exciting. Lithograph really keeps you on tender hooks all the way from the first mark on the clean stone to the end when you are grinding the image off the stone again.

I needed to plan and work my way methodically though each transfer method, and each gum and etch. Thinking all the time. The logistics of getting the various pieces onto the stone in the correct order and all successfully secured and etched was a real challenge to my limited skills. And then there was the printing. Producing an edition of 150 was incredibly satisfying but also exhausting. It took three solid days at the press, damping, rolling up, drying, printing and then repeating. Over and over again. Serena Smith was incredibly supportive through out and her comprehensive knowledge of lithography makes embarking on such projects possible. The poster is on sale as a fund raiser for Leicester Print Workshop. http://www.leicesterprintworkshop.com/ 

I am finishing off my apprenticeship with a piece of my own. A rather ambitious project to print a sixteen page children's picture story written in collaboration with my husband. I prepared the workshop's four largest stones before christmas with the intention of being ready with the drawings in the new year. A good plan, but not achieved. There has been much wrangling between the medium, the stone sizes, the images, the page turns and the words. Not necessarily a bad thing as it really has focused our minds. This week I finally feel I have made a break though with the drawings and it's now back with the word mister for a final edit. 

2012 officially started for the website this week with the up-load of last years scrap book diaries. I love it when they go live and even though one only sees a few pages out of each book I like seeing the diversity of the scraps and having a reminder of places visited, exhibitions and films seen, and life lived last year.