Summer Woods (Unframed 30 x 22" original cyanotype painting on paper)

UNFRAMED

This is a combination of painting and a kind of alternative photographic process from the 1800s: cyanotype. I drew the plant and painted it in —not with ink or paint, but with light-sensitive photo emulsion.

The blue and white pattern seen in each leaf which resembles painted Delft pottery is really a sun print or cameraless photograph of tiny plants laid on top. If you look closely you may see a tiny flower or two. The tiny flowers laid across the painted silhouette are of the same species as the larger painted flower, a sort of metaphor for how each of us is made of those who came before us whose genes we carry.

"Cow Parsnip" and "cow parsley" are common names for the native California wildflower Heracleum maximus which pops up in the woods each spring and summer, growing as tall as a person. It resembles the smaller Queen Anne's Lace and Hemlock, but is bigger with flower heads as big as cauliflowers.