Artist | Printmaker - Alan Stones
ARTIST'S BIOGRAPHY:
1947 Born in Manchester
1967 – 71 Studied Fine Art at St Martin’s School of Art, London
1971 – 82 Self employed artist living in Thetford, Norfolk
1982 - Self employed artist living in Blencarn, Nr Penrith, Cumbria
Alan explains his lithographic process ...
" Plate lithographs are made by drawing onto grained plastic (Truegrain). Unlike stone lithography, in which drawings are made using greasy materials, plate lithography involves drawing with pencils and inks in order to block out light. The completed drawing is placed in an exposure unit and a series of test plates (aluminium photographic positive Toray Plates) are exposed to ultra violet light. These test plates are given varying exposures – more light burns through the drawing and creates a more contrasty image; less light leaves subtle greys. At this point there is generally a lot of trial and error and invariably I end up back in the studio ‘improving’ the drawing. The equivalent of my drawing on the Truegrain plastic is transferred to the Toray plate so that when I roll up with ink, the ink adheres to the ‘drawn’ areas and leaves the other areas clean.
There are obviously other things to get right such as ink strength and transparency but, all being well, paper is placed down on the inked–up plate and both are then passed through the press. When the moment comes to lift the print from the press …and it has worked…. what a relief! "
