#wetcyanotype

[lisseajordan]

My favourite cyanotype from this morning: Lisianthus and Foliage collected from the Guildford Lido! - Wet 

#wetcyanotype #cameralessphotography #photography #summer #august #heatwave #lido #flowers #cyanotype #art 

[gretabelintende]

wet cyanotype, flower composition

@gretabelintende

[suerenostudio]

They are all special, but this one has some extra panache. Take a look with me as I continue to wrap up my year in botanical printmaking. It's been a long standing unfulfilled desire of mine to grow a fig tree outdoors; various practical factors have prevented it. So when I spotted a beautiful specimen in a friend's garden, asked to harvest a few leaves for printmaking, and she graciously agreed, it was a red letter day for me. I brought the leaves home, lightly pressed them, and prepared my most chaotic set up to date for wet printing with cyanotype and solarfast chemicals on cotton sateen. These are the results, and I am over the moon with how amazing they are. I will be spending some time with them, figuring out how to use them in an art quilt. More on my blog, link on profile. #wetcyan #wetcyanotype #cyanotype #solarfast #printmaking #botanicalprintmaking #altphotography #blueprint #fiberart #artquilt #textiles @saqaart @aap_pgh https://www.instagram.com/p/CmrQIqFuhlx/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[jeniharney]

Another photograph under glass. This time using a condenser lens from an old enlarger. #wetcyanotype #alternativephotographicprocesses #botanicalprint https://www.instagram.com/p/CjNim3VIIcn/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[suerenostudio]

I'm happy to share another new work, Sanctuary. It's one of the quilts making its debut at the Virginia Quilt Museum in my solo show, Beyond the Blue: Contemporary Narrative Quilts by Sue Reno. The exhibit runs from August 16 - October 23, with a reception on September 23. I am particularly fond of the small rock crevices and caves commonly found in the geological formations in Pennsylvania. They form a sanctum sanctorum for all sorts of creatures, from invertebrates burrowing in the leaf litter, to snakes in hibernacula, and small mammals seeking shelter from the elements. There's a few in Lancaster County where I've ventured a short distance inside, to feel the cool air on my skin while on a summer hike. The eastern woodlands always feel like an sanctuary to me. I can identify a good number of the trees and plants around me, and can fantasize which ones I would use for food and shelter should the need somehow arise. I live in suburbia and the need is not at all likely to arise, but combined with my gardening skills I am appeasing the spirits of my Germanic ancestors who did indeed live off of the land. The knowledge puts me at ease. Like all of my work it has specific meaning to me, but I have left it open ended enough so that the viewer can bring their own story to the experience. The leaves in this wet cyanotype print are catalpa, green ash, red oak, sassafras, white oak, Joe Pye weed, and maple. I added the leaf veining with stitching, then quilted the background with "pebble" quilting that reminds me of a gentle rain falling. The patchwork is a mélange of cotton and silk fabrics. meant to symbolize earth and sky. Size is 37" x 55" #artquilt #fiberart #textileart #wetcyan #wetcyanotype #blueprint #printmaking #botanicalprintmaking #altphotography @vaquiltmuseum @saqaart @aap_pgh (at Virginia Quilt Museum) https://www.instagram.com/p/ChKdbJ0OHSA/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[suerenostudio]

Today I am shining a spotlight on In Dreams I Found Utopia, one of the quilts included in my upcoming solo show Beyond the Blue: Contemporary Narrative Quilts by Sue Reno, at the Virginia Quilt Museum in Harrisonburg, VA . The exhibit runs from August 16 - October 23, with a reception on September 23. I finished this one in 2019, when I was taking refuge from political realities by spending a lot of time biking the Northwest Lancaster County River Trail along the Susquehanna River. I became very intimate with various sections of the trail, drinking in the lush plant life and the eternal flow of the river, and it gave me some kind of sci-fi hope for a future with egalitarian ideals. I now look back on this optimism, post pandemic peak, rather wryly, but still, I am here to spread the beauty and joy to the best of my ability. One of the panels on this quilt features leaves I had gathered and dried, used in a wet process cyanotype print. It was made late in the year, so it doesn't have the wild variegations that a midsummer print often produces. But I love the quiet and subtle beauty of it, and I had great fun painstakingly stitching all the leaf veins and adding pebble quilting to the background. My experience with the Susquehanna includes not just the idyllic days spent biking its shores, but also the violent surge of floodwaters after Hurricane Agnes and other smaller storms and ice jam events. The patchwork surrounding the panels are bits and pieces saved from other quilts, representing the flotsam and jetsam, some of it quite dramatic and chaotic, that makes its way downriver during a flood. This quilt is 67" x 53". #artquilt #fiberart #textileart #wetcyan #wetcyanotype #cyanotype #blueprint #altphotography #needlefelting #handbeadwork @vaquiltmuseum @saqaart @aap_pgh (at Virginia Quilt Museum) https://www.instagram.com/p/ChF4YOkJKkE/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[suerenostudio]

Today I am shining a spotlight on In Dreams I Saw the Rift, one of the quilts from my series The River. It will be in my solo show, Beyond the Blue: Contemporary Narrative Quilts by Sue Reno, at the Virginia Quilt Museum. The exhibit runs from August 16 - October 23, with a reception on September 23. In Dreams I Saw the Rift was previously juried into Art of the State 2020 at the State Museum of Pennsylvania, where it won a second place award in the Craft category. The exhibit was hung in the museum, but due to the pandemic the doors never opened. The VQM will be the first time it's physically displayed to the public. I'm delighted that visitors will have the opportunity to see, up close and personal, the wealth of detail and texture I've put into this quilt. This quilt is the latest in a series reflecting my decades-long obsession with the Susquehanna River. It frequently appears in my dreams as my personal uber-river, wherein I hike its shores, learn to swim, and let it carry me away. Here, while still admiring the beauty, I sensed a disturbance in the flow. I finished this one shortly before the pandemic hit, so perhaps I was prescient. The center panel is a needlefelted river, with wool and silk and mylar fibers, surrounded by woolen fields and woods that I hand embroidered and beaded. The top panel was made with hand stitched hexagons, done by the English paper piecing method, that I worked on obsessively in the evenings for months. They are arranged with cracks that let the light in, or out, depending on your view. The bamboo panels are traditional cyanotypes, some on silk, some on cotton. At my previous home, neighbors planted a bunch of invasive bamboo, so I was forever rooting it out and got some pleasure from using it artistically. The fern print is a Christmas fern done with the wet cyanotype method; it has just a smidge of variation in while still staying crisp. There is minimal patchwork in this one but it works well to tie the piece together. The size is 66" x 59". #artquilt #fiberart #textileart #wetcyanotype #wetcyan #cyanotype #altphotography #epp #needlefelting #handembroidery #handbeadwork @vaquiltmuseum @saqaart @aap_pgh (at Virginia Quilt Museum) https://www.instagram.com/p/ChAn_xjpAhB/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[suerenostudio]

It's time to share another new work! This is Under the Thunder Moon. It's one of the quilts making its debut at the Virginia Quilt Museum in my solo show, Beyond the Blue: Contemporary Narrative Quilts by Sue Reno. The exhibit runs from August 16 - October 23, with a reception on September 23. A common name for July’s full moon is Thunder Moon, in reference to this month’s frequent thunderstorms. These wet cyanotype prints capture the effect of moonlight on some of the perennial stars in my garden borders. Plants used are plume poppy, calla lily, and Virginia creeper. I do love a big dramatic leaf! My concerns about climate change, our lackluster governmental response, and the increasing frequency of damaging storms have lead me to make an informal series of quilts based on weather phenomenon. Here I am taking a gentle approach, evoking the mood as I stand in my doorway and watch a thunderstorm sweep across my garden beds, refreshing them after a scorching day under the July sun. Perhaps you've shared the experience of waiting until the lightening has passed, then dashing out to dance about a bit in the warm rain--I particularly recommend enjoying this activity with children. The patchwork here is a mix of bits and pieces leftover from other projects. I had a lot of fun arranging and rearranging the pieces until they set the right mood. This one measures 39" x 23". It counts as "small" by my standards, but it still packs a big image punch! #artquilt #fiberart #textileart #wetcyan #wetcyanotype #blueprint #altphotography #printmaking #botanicalprintmaking @vaquiltmuseum @saqaart @aap_pgh (at Virginia Quilt Museum) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cg-VapoJttw/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=