Cyanotype / blueprints on canvas, poster, wallpaper and ArtFrame by Remke Spijkers

In 2020 I was inspired by an old photographic printing technique: cyanotype or blueprints. In this series of artworks I combine my love for nature with my love for photography and painting. Cyanotype is a photographic process in which a cyan-blue print is created after development. The English scientist, photographer and astronomer John Herschel discovered this technique in 1842. Anna Atkins (1799-1871), an English botanist and photographer, published a series of books with cyanotypic images of ferns and other plants. The emulsion used for the cyanotype process consists of two chemicals: • Ammonium iron citrate Potassium hexacyanoferrate (III). When this emulsion is exposed to UV light, its color changes to Prussian blue. When the chemicals are rinsed away with water at the end of the exposure time, a distinctive blue color remains, showing the image in white or light blue shades. (Sometimes a rinse with coffee or tea can give the blue another shade, such as brown or gray.) For nearly a century, cyanotype was the only simple and inexpensive way to reproduce drawings. The cyanotype technique was used in industry, especially for large-format construction plans for machines (such as locomotives) and in architecture. This use of cyanotype is known as blueprint. I work with botanical materials (plants and flowers) as well as photos that I have taken during my life (such as nature, landscapes, animals and self-portraits). My passion for painting is reflected in thi