Water’s Harvest – ‘Seeds to Leaves’ Micro-Exhibition

Water and sunlight, essential for life, combine to nurture the lush flora surrounding me in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland.

In ‘Water’s Harvest,’ I celebrate this essential partnership through artworks created with these elemental forces. Using the cyanotype technique, also known as ‘sun printing,’ I harness water and the sun’s UV light to create compositions with seeds and leaves. Each piece reflects the influence of water and sunlight, embodying the eternal cycle of growth, from seeds to leaves.

‘Water’s Harvest’ – The Collection

‘Water’s Harvest’ is a visual homage to the primal energy sustaining life’s abundance. Each artwork is a ‘wet cyanotype‘, marked with the imprint of seeds or leaves, resonating with the timeless rhythm of creation and nourishment.

Cyanotype is an alternative photographic process invented by Sir John Herschel in 1842. The process was popularised by Anna Atkins in the 1840s with her production of a series of books documenting her family’s seaweed collection, the largest in Britain. Using the Cyanotype process, she created the world’s first botanical photographic reference book.

The process involves creating a UV light sensitive non-toxic emulsion. Paper is coated with the emulsion, objects placed on the paper, then the paper is placed under the sun’s UV light. When the UV light contacts the emulsion, a chemical reaction occurs that ultimately results in a blue and white ‘sun-printed’ image.

The 4 artworks below are my favourites from the collection (I love them all, but these ones a little bit more than the others). They have been adorned with 23ct gold leaf. I love their fluid nature and the earthy tones that emerged as a result of the process.

The 4 artworks below have no gold leaf adornment. The first artwork has had a pigment added to the exposure process; and the other 3 are coloured naturally by pushing boundaries and manipulating the approach and exposure.

The artworks below rounded out the collection. Some with small gold leaf adornment detail and some without.