In this, and Finestre, Vaughan approaches lithography in a way that is distinct from his previous works in the medium. Here, he is painter rather than draughtsman. he expresses his ideas in areas of colour and tone rather than line. ' A harsh, dour and dramatic landscape' he records in 1948, 'black, white, grey and ochre; peasant life, seaweed hoists and other motifs'. Both subjects were derived from sketches made during a cycling trip around Brittany in the summer of 1949. Old Seaweed Hoist is based on Vaughan'a 1951 oil study Seaweed Study Finistere. It echoes Christopher Wood's consciously naïve paintings of fishing villages in Cornwall and Brittany The formal passages are more predominant as Vaughan uses elements of observe nature selectively. Arranged with control and economy Vaughan's forms are distilled until they become motifs - symbols for figure, boat, anchor and wall. The design was easily translated when Edinburgh Weavers of Carlisle, manufacturers of innovative furnishing fabrics, issued Old Seaweed Hoist as a printed pattern in 1956.