Wild Mugwort Diptych (TWO 24 x 12" Unframed original cyanotypes on paper)

Unframed.

(TWO 24 x 12" original cyanotypes on wtercolor paper)

This is wild mugwort (artemisia) or chrysanthemum weed which grows all over the woods where I live. it is a fragrant herb that smells similar to sage. These are mirror images of each other made using the same branch laid flipped over.

Though these look like screen prints or block prints, they are cyanotypes, a 19th century alternative photogoraphic process which uses different chemicals from black and white photography. They are one-off, monotypes, cameraless photographs, sunprints, blue prints or photograms.

The usual color of a cyanotype is dark blue and stark white, but I added another exposure to light to give the leaves a pale blue shade. The leaves of the left print are slightly darker pale blue than the leaves of the right print. I exposed one a few seconds longer than the other. So they are symmetrical but not entirely identical.


Every one of my botanical cyanotypes is an entirely unique monotype as the plants are laid by hand in that one exact composition only once. There is no camera, no copper plate, no ink or printing press.