Complimentary Colors

Tonight, I start a long, difficult process of actively using this blog and its mirror site as a means of communicating my artistic practice. It’s been a busy couple of months.

Not just teaching. The anthotypes are maturing in approach and content. I am getting influenced by the painter in my life and other painters in my life. I think all the rubbings on the Vermont pieces were influenced by Bridgette and I viewing the Gerhardt Richter video. Somewht related, when someone mentions complimentary colors to you in a hallway based upon seeing an instagram picture of a work in progress…I better take heed. Rebecca Sargent, thank you.

Exhbition news minus pictures.

The Ino Town, Japan show ended last week. The platinum palladium prints on the Tosa Washi may travel to Kyoto. Stay tuned.

Three anthotypes are on view in Columbus as part of the Ohio Art League Fall Juried Show.

Three anthotypes are on view in Fixed Shadow at Wright State University.

One anthotype (the double exposure one) will be on display in the Soho Photo Gallery Alternative Photography competition.

I will upload pictures of the work, possibly even exhibition documentation in the next few weeks. In the meantime, how about an early image of a work in progress? Complimentary Clot in Saffron, photographed October 21st. 

Physical Trace

The yellow lab coat came down last Saturday but the results were disappointing. Very little fading occurred which made me re-evaluate the act of sewing in the gallery space I had envisioned.

The coat only got about 40 minutes of late afternoon light on a good sunny day and I doubt there have Ben even ten of those during the run of in vivo. Not the best way to create a physical trace of the exhibition.

It is still disassembled and my inclination is to give the pieces more exposure in the backyard.

Mommy and Daddy are Alright

Just a quick snap of the new saffron anthotypes, "Mommy" & "Daddy". Better pictures on Monday.

in progress (sign of impatience)

It's frustrating making anthotypes in Ohio in the winter. Here is a peak at the Nightie Negligee photogram anthotype. I've been exposing it since January 25th give or take a week of clouds.
It's still got a ways to go but it is working. The working title is "Saffron Night Gown".

Wrapped in Plastic (the great saffron experiment III)

This will be a bit of a strange detour for me. Doll clothes. Somehow in my search for sleepwear, a bathrobe for a Ken doll came up. That led me to pajamas for Ken which in turn led me to Barbie's Nightie Negligee. Despite the oddness of working with doll clothes, it did solve a couple of problems.


Scale. Making tests that would fit into smaller printing frames. Now I can try different plant materials on smaller sheets of paper before committing to a larger sized sheet of paper able to fit adult sized sleepwear.

Light Resist: The Nightie Negligee is interesting because of its transparency and opacity. It has distinct lines and a sheerness that will allow light to be held back or to freely pass depending upon the layers and folds of the garment. In other words, I don't have to cut it up.

Paper with Ten Coats of Saffron and Barbie Nightie Negligee

Print Frame, Anthotype with Light Resist, Wrapped in Plastic

The exposure begins today, overcast and twenty eight degrees Fahrenheit. The Anthotype (ten coats of saffron emulsion) should be safe from the elements. I've wrapped it in a plastic bag to protect it from the elements. There will be two more of these "tests". One will be the other half of the Nightie Negligee and the other Ken's Pajamas. One possible direction for this project might be homemade Ken and Barbie sleepwear. I need to sleep on it.

Regarding the title of the post, yes it is a nod to the name of the official Twin Peaks Fan Club newsletter.

the great saffron experiment, part II

Yesterday and today I have been coating the saffron emulsion onto Fabriano Artistico Hot Press Extra White.

zero, one, and two coats

zero, two, and four coats

zero, three, and five coats

zero, four, and six coats

Some notes:

• The emulsion was brushed on with a foam brush. Keep the brush as perpendicular to the paper as possible and don't apply too much pressure on the paper surface. The more coats applied, the more likely the nap of the paper will get pulled up.
• The color is becoming more concentrated around the center of the paper. I believe this is because this is where I pour the emulsion on (about 6 cc per coat) before brushing outwards.
• I will probably go through the entire 100 cc of emulsion I made on two sheets of 12" x 15" paper (and stop there).

the great saffron experiment, part I

Today I began the Great Saffron Experiment. It will be great if it works.
My intent is to use saffron as an anthotype emulsion. This afternoon was primarily preparing the liquid which will be applied to paper as multiple coats to build up the color.
Below are pictures of the process.

dried saffron

saffron with hot water

saffron with hot water, mortar, pestle and tea kettle

regrinding the saffron before adding more hot water

cloudy saffron suspension

As best as I can remember:

• I used about two teaspoons worth of saffron. A little goes a long way.
• Added hot water little by little, mortar and pestling (I hope that is the verb) the saffron leaves as they absorbed water.
• Pulled off the liquid from round one of crushing the saffron in hot water using a transfer pipette. Filtered it through the mesh filter. I had about 70 cc of liquid at this point.
• Re-pestled the saffron. At this point it was effectively a saffron poultice.
• Added more liquid. Continued to mortar and pestle.
• Pulled off the additional liquid and filtered it through the mesh filter.
• Just as an additional experiment, I added a few cc's of Everclear (alcohol) to the remaining poultice to see if I could leach out a little more color. It helped a little but probably added to the cloudiness of the collected liquid.

From the pictures you should notice that I strained the hot liquid through a piece of a gold mesh coffee filter. The collected liquid did have a suspension which was too fine for the coffee filter but it did settle down to the bottom of the glass jar after a few minutes.