Florence Duesterbecks Cyanotypes 1

I am from Regina and I am a senior student at the University of Regina enrolled in the Post-Baccalaureate in Visual Arts Certificate program. This is a post Bachelor of Fine Arts program of ten higher level Art and Art History classes. For the senior class I am enrolled in I am doing some work with cyanotype along with other photography related art.

I like to research what others have done using cyanotype, try new techniques, develop some of my own then experiment to see what kind of images and art I can create.

For Wild in Saskatchewan, I used plants I gathered and pressed. I admire these wild plants for their hardiness, tenacity and survival in the face of changing weather, human’s eradication efforts and the green environment they offer. I used a technique Julian Sandro shared on the Internet to add depth to cameraless cyanotypes.  

Siberian Elm (Ulmus pumila) uses a technique I thought of where I alternately layer leaves and glass three times to add depth. I also wanted to experiment with how to get the glow around a flat object.

For Bur Oak I used a leaf I found while walking on campus in February. Annette Golaz has referred to where you tone a cyanotype (in this case I used oak bark) and then coat it again and over print it again with cyanotype solution. I printed it on a scrap of photo print paper, something I have been experimenting with.

For Awareness Leads to Prevention (Dutch Elm Disease) I first printed the leaf using an Epson printer on semi-matte photo printing paper. I coated this print with cyanotype solution and printed it with the digital print of the fungus, the drawing of the beetle, and masking the leaves with the original elm leaves. For the version with the brown background, I toned the result with oak bark. I wanted to see if I could successfully do combination printing and toning using semi-matte photo paper.

Glass Sponge Skeleton Detail – I was intrigued with the Venus' flower basket’s (Euplectella aspergillum) skeleton. I had never seen anything like this before.