Cyanotypes

I’m pretty solidly in my cyanotype era.

I started making cyanotypes in the summer of 2022. At first, I just thought it was pretty and enjoyed making prints. I experimented with photo negatives and rocks and leaves and grasses and fabric and furniture shadows and many more. But my favorites were always the plant-based prints.

And because I couldn’t just let the cyanotype be a blue print on paper, every print got a wash of ink and water over it.

In the summer of 2023, I noticed how many stressed trees were dropping their leaves to save energy in the drought. So I started collecting the leaves, identifying them with an app (and sometimes Google), and documenting them with cyanotypes. I called it my Drought Series. The colors are intentionally subdued because that drought was depressing.

Even after the drought, I continued to be enchanted by the nature that surrounded me and collected plants and leaves that presented themselves to me. A driving principle in this practice was (and continues to be), never to steal from nature, only to collect what’s already been separated from the plant (fallen leaves, dropped seed pods, branches trimmed by the city). 

I’ve taken up this practice everywhere I’ve gone, loading giant palm leaves from Rockport into my car and driving them home to Houston. Or making a point to stop by Mabel Davis Park in Austin because I knew I could find mesquite pods there.

Lately, I’ve been shifting this work away from scientific documentation and more toward artistic expression. I use more expressive brush strokes of the cyanotype solution and leave more negative space. This allows me to focus more on the ink and the exploration of color.