light

Along with having my first mentor meeting of the semester this week I got to have a look at the James Turrell exhibit at the Guggenheim. Despite large crowds I really enjoyed having some time to take in the light and color in his work. I especially enjoyed the way his prints are displayed to make them look like light installations also.

Images from: http://www.girvin.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/james-turrell_13.jpg

http://blogs.artinfo.com/artintheair/tag/guggenheim/

http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/exhibitions/on-view/james-turrell/installation-photos

http://www.artbook.com/9780892074884.html

tannin.

Toned with tannin from a brewer's supply store.

test prints and toning

5 different kinds of fabric. In each row the first one was washed in water before printing, the second was as-is, the third I sized with cornstarch. A few different experiments with the paper negatives (row 1 middle image, only half waxed; row 1 and 3 first image, negative sewn together out of two pieces of paper). And finally row 4 images 1 and 2 are my first toning experiments (bleached with borax, toned with tea). More toning will happen this week and then I will decide which fabric I like most, and which toning technique will work best.

After several weeks of recovering, thinking, planning, ordering chemicals, waiting for chemicals to arrive, buying fabric samples, and sketching I was finally able to make some test prints today. I will experiment with toning these cyanotypes to get colors other than blue and then hopefully I'll be able to figure out a way to make them big.