Natural UV Cyanotypes:

I decided to try out some more Cyanotypes, but this time I wanted to expose them to natural light instead of the UV light bed. Looking back to my other attempts I also left the mixture to dry on the paper for at least a day before exposing them to see if this made a difference to how much mixture would come out when washing them. For my first attempt I put some leaves and branches that I had Collected from my research visit from Wollaston Hall on top of the paper and weighed it down with some stones from my garden to prevent the paper from moving. I left it out for a couple of hours and when washing the Cyanotype some sections washed out slightly more than others but the images stayed quite intact which was a huge improvement compared to the last time. Unfortunately, it seems as though light has managed to get underneath the leaves due to them not being flat on the paper causing the final image to be faded and blurry. 

I really like how the blue tone is uneven and inconsistent throughout this image, lighter in some areas and darker in others. I think that this creates movement within the work and is reminiscent of rippling water. The actual silhouettes of the leaves are blurred and faint, with the outer lines being soft and fuzzy. When I see faint whispers of images and objects I am always reminded of ghosts and memories, trying to remember something that's slipping away or catching movement in the corner of you eye but when you turn there's nothing there and to me these elements often make a piece seem unsettling. These Cyanotypes were done on A3 paper and are on a bigger scale to the majority of my work this project, and I have found working on a bigger scale to be quite enjoyable. I think that having more space to work with has allowed me to be more free in my art practice. Usually when making a cyanotype I would coat the mixture all the way to the edge of the material that I was using to create a neat and clean edge, however, this time I stopped short of the edge which made these heavy brush strokes appear. I really like this effect , it shows more of the process to the viewer which I think makes the work have a charming quality to it, and it allows the viewer to feel more involved with the piece. 

When making my second cyanotype I decided to leave the paper to dry for even longer, over a couple of days. When I put the leaves and branches on top I used a large perspex sheet and placed it on top with some rocks in the corner to weigh everything down and prevent light from seeping under the objects. The table that everything was on was slightly wet and I chose to leave my cyanotype out for longer than the last time, just over 2 hours, and when going out to retrieve it I noticed that the paper had turned brown instead of blue. This has never happened to me before and I was quite worried that I had ruined my image, however, when washing it out the colour changed to a deep royal blue and the silhouettes came out really nicely. This has been my most successful image and when washing it there was no removal of the silhouette at all. I really like the contrast in colours within this work, the white sections are stark against the darker blue and allow the image of the leaves and branches to really stand out and be the focal point of the whole work. In terms of composition I think that the silhouettes take up a good majority of the paper and leave a small amount of gaps within the image. The smaller leaf curls into the larger one as if being beckoned in and the larger leaf spreads out like it's reaching for what's beyond the image. When I look at this work I am reminded of seaweed floating in the ocean, the blue tones seem to ripple like water and leaves are positioned slanted to the side as if they are sawing with the tide. I think that the lines within this work are stronger than the previous cyanotype, you can practically see every notch and turn that the object makes. I believe that this shows that the image is raw and natural, this is a minimalistic process to show natural forms without tampering or intervening too much. 

I think that both of these cyanotypes have been very successful and are such a huge improvement from the first batch that I did. I have found that using natural light to be more convenient and accessible than using a UV light bed, as well as better for the environment. I think that both images, although one id more faint than the other, have come out well and I am thankful that they didn't wash out under the tap. Next time I would like to use some different object and perhaps have more object in one image, I would like to improve of my ability to compose and image and cyanotype. 

I will do some research on classic cyanotype artists who used the process when it was first developed, I think that this would give me a better understanding of composition and the fundamentals of creating successful cyanotypes, I will then compare this with some more contemporary work.