Experimenting with Wet Cyanotypes

I find it fascinating that once I have been sparked by a new area of creativity, the urge to continue experimenting is so strong. Having enjoyed Stephanie Johnson's course where I learnt the basics of creating traditional cyanotypes (see previous blog), I decided to enrol in one led by the experimental artist Natalie Day. She is based in Cornwall and uses the natural materials of the land to create her amazing abstract landscapes paintings, like these of the coast at Bude.

Natalie's experimental cyanotype course is a series of online videos to follow, that I found very informative.  I could also stop the video at any point, rewind and watch again aa I was playing. We started by mixing up different combinations of the cyanotype chemicals, ferric ammonium citrate and potassium ferricyanide, painting them in strips on watercolour paper and putting them in the sun to dry. This was to learn the range of colours we could create. No botanicals, no glass covering.

The next step was to add combinations of lemon juice, vinegar, salt crystals and various spices. Natalie creates her own natural pigments from earth and mineral deposits in Cornwall to add colour to her work, but I substituted with some sparkly powder paints:

I was constantly surprised by the variety of colours that emerged, and the way that the chemicals interacted with the other elements. And this all changed depending on how long the paper was left to expose. As I played, I became more proficient at aiming for a particular colour and effect:

I also played around with adding more chemicals as they were exposing, and moving the paper to make little streams. These are reminiscent of waves washing onto the sand and leaving patterns:

and this one of an autumn tree:

I photographed the cyanotypes both before and after washing, rather than scanning them. The residue of salt crystals and spices might not have been good for my scanner! I found that I often preferred the pre-washed textural effects. And as they dried in the ensuing days the colours would deepen and evolve, so it was good to capture the work at different stages.

In post-processing I played around with finding different images within an image:

as well as blending two images together in Photoshop. . Here is one where I used peacock feathers in one layer and merged it with one that had salt crystals, vinegar and turmeric:

and another where a wet cyanoptype is merged with a standard photograph:

So many possibilities! But I will pause here.

Natalie Day has several videos of her processes, e.g. cyanotype video

Here is a link to 5 more cyanotype artists to enjoy from the Hundred Heroines site.

There is lots of information on the Alternative Photography site, e.g. the work of Judith McMahon and Sylvia Charbonnier (who combines plastic waste with the botanicals which I have yet to try....)

#cyanotype; #experimementation; #sunprinted; #alternativeprocess; #cameralessphotography; #slowphotography; #moonscapes; #seascapes