Busy is happy! There is an old saying in the Navy that a busy crew is a happy crew. Seems true to me that the way to be happy and creative is to be action oriented. The more over thinking the less you actually get done. Opportunities come and go and often the window to accomplish something is very small. Yesterday I had an exhausting day job day. When I got home I wanted nothing more than to chill out and relax. But then I remembered a few cyanotype experiments I wanted to do. But the studio was cold and…

Just a short video showing the final steps of my cyanotype process. I usually use sunlight to expose my cyanotypes but it was too cold and dreary outside so I used an LED UV lamp for this print. After exposure the print is taken to a dark room, removed from the printing frame, and washed with tap water. The wash process removed unreacted iron from the dark areas in the negative. This leaved behind the image in Prussian Blue dye. It also renders the image light safe. I usually do 4 rinses in the dark room followed by about 10…

I get to travel a lot in my life and have been many wonderful (and not so wonderful) places. The Pacific coast in Oregon is one of my favorites! Here is a cyanotype made from a picture I took on the beach in Oregon. It was a cloudy and rainy day and I saw the almost glowing piece of driftwood. The contrast between the white drift wood and the wet rocks was very appealing so I snapped a few frames. This is a 10in x 14in cyanotype of that scene. The process really accentuated the contrast between the dark rocks…

A Cyanotype print of lily pads and sparkling water. This 12in x 9in print is for sale in my Etsy Shop I used the new cyanotype process for this print which produces deep cobalt blue color - almost black. I think the contrast of the water sunlight sparkles and the dark water is especially beautiful. This print was made using a film (black and white) negative from pictures I did this summer in Northern Wisconsin. Here is another photo which shows both the amazing color and the texture from the renaissance wax finish. This print really brings me memories of…