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I am very honored to be the featured artist in Ladue News Art and Soul section. They are featuring my wet cyanotype series and a little blurb about how I coped as an artist during the pandemic. I appreciate the support!
Staying busy is my go-to coping strategy and printing using the wet cyanotype method kept me distracted during this troubling pandemic. Cyanotypes, also called “sun prints” are one of the oldest photographic printing processes dating back to 1842. Sir John Herschel developed this first silver less photographic process using only two chemicals and the sun as a light source. These sun prints are decidedly low tech as the final image of a cyanotoype appears only with the aid of sunlight as a light source and water for a developer. This inexpensive, simple and permanent process was used for the blue print process for copying architectural plans, hence the name “Blueprint” as the images are a deep Prussian blue color. The very first book of printed text and photographs by Anna Atkin used the cyanotype process. My attraction to the cyanotype process is the physical involvement during the printing process allowing me to use my hand,eyes and intuition. I like the way the light, time, salts and myself slowly deposit an image on beautifully hand crafted paper.
My backyard garden represented a constant coming and going of the seasons and were a source of comfort and joy in the ever changing world. As plants popped up here and there, it was a reminder to slow down and remember that everything has its own time. I marked the passing of the seasons by printing cyanotypes directly from plants found in my suburban back yard. The varieties of leaves and weather produces variable results. These prints were made during the sultry St. Louis summer days. I tossed the spice turmeric on the prints for splash of yellow color and to mimic the flash of lightening of quick thunderstorms that so often interrupted my printing process and the fireflies that lit up the summer night skies.
Many 19th century processes, like cyanotypes, are making a comeback with fine art photographers. You can see modern versions of this antique process in many art exhibits and museums around the country. The current revival of alternative process is more than a trend and I find the hands on technique much more satisfying than simply pressing a print key on a computer.
