Cyanotypes & Mixed Media

A Cyanotype created from the negative of the original photograph and then bleached using washing soda to soften the tones. The final stage involved taking the image into Procreate to introduce wisps of clouds into the sky.

‘I guess this piece requires very little introduction; if any at all. Inspired by Emily Brontë’s novel and, in particular, Kate Bush’s acclaimed debut single, I’ve tried to recapture the early days of Cathy and Heathcliff’s romantic relationship.

This piece began life as a digital image drawn almost entirely in Procreate. Yet I felt it lacked something and wondered if creating a Cyanotype from the image might inject some moorland earthiness into it. Unfortunately, doing so made a lot of the text illegible, so I took it back into Procreate and edited it back in, creating a hybrid version: a blending of a digitally painted piece together with a Cyanotype created from it.

Of course, living on the edge of Brontë Country myself with a clear view of those Moors from our home made this image easy to imagine ~ particularly as Ally and I have roamed along them and visited Haworth, where the Brontë Family lived so many times.’

The only addition to the original photo is the inclusion of two birds … there was no way I was going to be lucky enough to capture two birds together perched on that stone wall.

Whilst I was very happy with the photo I thought it might make an interesting cyanotype. So, I created a black and white version of the image, inverted it and printed it onto a sheet of acetate. And yes, I thought the finished cyanotype looked really cool.

But not cool enough! So I created a wet cyanotype with the acetate, sprinkling turmeric on the branches to mimic leaves. It looked ok I thought but I felt the need to go further with it. I layered photos of the cyanotype, the unrinsed wet cyanotype and the developed wet cyanotype into Procreate and began to add leaves … orange leaves!

Et voila! ‘Orange Tree’