Experiments in wet cyanotype - part 60

I'm catching up with prints I made last summer, while I had the energy to make things but was blocked from documenting them here. These are an assortment of prints made in July. The first two used oak leaves that were wonderfully marked with scatter-shot insect damage. I printed on cotton sateen panels, using a mix of cyanotype and Solarfast chemicals.

 

This print combines a few oak leaves with box elder leaves.

Here are the prints after many hours of exposure in the hot sun, but before being rinsed out.

The holes in the leaves printed up beautifully.

Here are the finished prints. They look like they were made in July, don't they?

I love all the subtle patterning in this one!

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Experiments in wet cyanotype - part 59

Here's another installment of prints I made last summer, in June, during lockdown, when I had the energy to do the printmaking but not the documentation. It's ok--I'm enjoying looking at these bright, saturated colors while looking out the window at the snow falling down.

These are on cotton sateen panels, about 22" x 48", using cyanotype chemicals and Solarfast chemicals, applied together in a process I developed through trial and error.

The first one used leaves from a tall blue lettuce plant, and the second used mullein leaves. I love wild plants and I especially love big, dramatic leaves, so these really hit the sweet spot for me. Above are both panels before being set out in the sun for a long exposure. 

These are the panels after exposure, but before being rinsed and finished. 

And here is the finished tall blue lettuce print.

I used these leaves years ago for this eponymously named quilt, with a similar color scheme. It remains one of my favorites. My printmaking process has loosened up rather considerably from the precision I used to aim for.

Tall Blue Lettuce

Here is the mullein leaf panel. It's very dramatic!

I loved these panels both so much that in the months since June they have each made it into quilts-in-progress that are currently on my design wall. So you will be seeing more of them in the months to come.

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Heat Index acceptance for Light the World exhibit

 I am honored and delighted to announce that Heat Index was one of 41 pieces selected for the SAQA Global Exhibition Light the World by juror Jan Myers-Newbury. 

Heat Index

Light the World is scheduled to debut at the European Patchwork Meeting, Sainte-Marie-Aux-Mines, France in September 2021. Further venues are TBA.

Heat Index, detail 1

My statement for the work: The UV rays of the sun are critical to my cyanotype and solar dye print process. I made these prints in August, when a combination of relentless sunshine, record temperatures, and high humidity had me checking each day for the predicted heat index, an indicator of just how unbearable outdoor activity would be. I used leaves from plants that were flourishing despite the heat, and the color palette captures the intensity of the heat and light. The prismatic patchwork reflects the small bits of shadow found among the foliage.

Heat Index, detail 2

Experiments in wet cyanotype - part 58

 In the year just ended, I was careful and I was lucky. I was careful to follow public health guidelines, to shelter at home, social distance, and mask up always. I was lucky that my current life allowed me to do all of the above, that I stayed healthy, and that no one near and dear has been lost to me. 

There were losses, of course, and they seem trivial in the grand scheme things but were personally traumatic nonetheless. Art exhibits were delayed, moved online, or cancelled; museums and other venues hit hard times, my in-person lectures and trunk shows were out of the question. Social isolation is hard. 

Still there were compensations, as we all adjusted. Online exhibits and zoom meetings of various fiber arts groups allowed participation that extended beyond geographic limits. Creative communities found new ways of doing things that will carry us all forward.

My personal life was busy; just 6 months into my move to Pittsburgh, there were still lots of details to attend to. I took on a big renovation and expansion of my garden landscape, and I remodeled the original kitchen in this mid-century modern home. The latter was extensively plagued by scheduling difficulties and supply chain delays, but was ultimately accomplished safely and expertly. 

Through all this I had little energy for deep thinking and creation. So I compensated by doing a LOT of printmaking, which I could accomplish in short bursts of time and concentration. I shared some of my ongoing experiments as I went along, but there's a bunch of them I just never got to. 

I blog because I genuinely enjoying sharing my work and my process, but also because the blog does serve as an online journal for me to keep track of things. While I considered just letting the experience of making those prints slip into the void, I ultimately decided to buckle down and document things. My mind will be more at ease once I have all of this sorted out. 

So this is the first of several posts sharing wet cyanotype and solar dye prints from the summer of 2020.

These are prints I made in May.

First up was a length of Virginia creeper vine, with cyanotype and Solarfast solar dye on cotton sateen. Next was an assortment of large and small wild dock leaves.

And then, a nice weedy composition of dock. plantain, and garlic mustard leaves. All these were gathered along the edges of my yard. 

As the aforementioned kitchen renovation was underway, I snagged a couple of glass front doors from the old cabinetry to experiment with as covers for developing prints. Because of the door frame, there's a bit of a gap between the leaves and the glass; the glass is not pressing down on the print. 

That space, and the heat that built up under the glass, allowed the leaves to dry and shrink after a bit, leaving a margin between the initial strike of the print and the final impression after 5 or 6 hours.

Here are the prints after exposure, but before rinsing and finishing.

The frame of the door somehow left a slender suggestion of an shadow in the Virginia creeper, but a big margin on the dock leaves.

As much as I love the delicate pink colors on this mixed leaf arrangement, I knew it would wash out. This is why photography at all stages is a good thing. 

Here are the finished prints. 

I love them all. It's interesting that the leaf veining tends to make a more permanent impression with the solarfast than with the cyanotype.

And of course, I am using both these formulations in long, wet exposures, contrary to instructions, so it's only a partially controllable process, which is what holds my interest.

Happy New Year to all, and here's to better days ahead.

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