Thursday, July 28, 2011

Grass Green and a Fugitive Pigment

They  cut the grass on the Emmanuel College campus yesterday so I went into manic mode. Wet grass clippings is chance favoring the prepared studio artist.

Mainly pictures this today. After an initial success, I have been struggling with using grass as a pigment for the Anthotypes. The first one, because of the quality of paper and five coats, worked out well. This was coated days ago before the lawn mower cuttings became available (yesterday). It is just waiting for the subject to arrive in the mail which is the fodder for a future blog entry. The second and third attempts are another story. I will let the captions do the talking. Besides the green, I have a discovery to report. The rose pigment is very sensitive to ambiant light i.e. fugitive! Please see the last picture.

The first attempt at grass which worked out well due to five coats of emulsion and the quality of the paper. Note the two other anthotypes in the upper background.
The Utrecht drawing paper soaks up emulsion and shows streaks. This is actually grass poultice pressed on top of the paper. In the photo above you can see this along with the second attempt.  
Red rose pigment exhibiting signs of pattern fading after two weeks exposure to room lights.

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