Dancing Peacock Japanese Maple 1 (UNFRAMED 36 x 36 inch original Cyanotype on paper)

(36 x 36 inch original Cyanotype on paper)

At 36 x 36 inches , almost 1 x 1 m , this is the biggest size of cyanotype I have made. The tree grows in my own backyard. It is a particularly beautiful species of Japanese maple and is the title I have given it, so that no one can forget.

Exposing and rinsing a sun print this big outdoors — with a sheet of glass even bigger than the paper —is a complicated affair, but one I’m getting better at.

Though this monoprint looks like a wood cut or screen print, this is actually a form of photography called a cyanotype. Every botanical print is entirely unique made using fresh plants and trees from my own garden laid in that exact composition on the hand-coated light-sensitive paper only once. There is no ink, no printing press and no copper plate or wood block.

Unframed. On 100% cotton acid-free watercolor paper. Ships rolled in a tube. Depictions of artwork framed on a wall are solely for the purpose of showing its scale.