Artist Talk

I was invited by Stratford Upon Avon Art Society to give them a talk about my art practice.

It is a very active society with a membership of about 400 and they are extremely well organised. They have a very varied programme of events and they book speakers over a year in advance in order to ensure they get the people that they want.

It was a great opportunity for me to share my enthusiasm and knowledge of the cyanotype process.

I started by explaining how I got to where I am today. I was a radiographer before going back to university in Birmingham to do a BA and MA in Fine Art. I always tell people about the radiographic part of my life as I often feel that it relates to my art practise and my love of silhouettes.

I gave a brief history of the cyanotype process including the fact that the first photographic book Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions. was published by Anna Atkins using the cyanotype process in 1843.

I went on to discuss practicalities including my preferred cyanotype formula, paper choices and exposure times.

I fell in love with the cyanotype process when I used it to make some new work for a solo exhibition a few years ago. Instead of seeing its restrictions I could only see possibilities. So I continued my talk with examples of how I make my art and what my influences are.

I discussed pitfalls and how to resolve them and I showed examples of what common faults looked like including over and under exposure.

Other subjects I talked about included how to make wet cyanotypes and how to tone cyanotypes using natural products to create other colours rather than the natural blue and white ‘blueprint’.

The large audience made me feel very welcome and really engaged with me and asked lots of very interesting questions.

If you’d like to find out more, either about giving a talk, or about my process, please get in touch.