Out in the field
A scientist, an artist and a designer walk into a Country Park …… no it’s not a joke, it’s the second cyanotype field trip this week with colleagues from Swansea University’s FIRE Lab, up to the River Tawe as it runs through Craig-y-Nos. What can I say? It’s a glorious place and I feel so privileged to go out and be an artist in places like this. There’s a castle here as well, built for Dame Adelina Patti, the magnificent opera singer.
Grey Day
Unlike Monday’s field trip in blazing sunshine, today was rainy, cloudy and grey. We waited for it to dry up a bit and exposed the cyanotypes on the bank of the Tawe en plein air. On Monday I allowed 10 minutes exposure, which worked really well (see here) but today I had to guesstimate and allowed 20 minutes. I’ll develop them tomorrow and we’ll see if I guessed right. We created images of things we found around us, being careful not to damage anything and to put things back.
I’m interested to know if, having exposed them you put them back in the light excluding bag? I tend to deal with mine on the spot. Any further tips would be appreciated.
Yes, I put them straight back in the bag and develop them later, it’s easier for me to do that. Also, they’re a pain to transport when they’re wet and I like to dry them over several days between drying boards, so I do it all in one place 🙂