"Pink Hydrangea"
Pink Hydrangea, 2023
Diana Bloomfield
Media: Tricolor Gum Bichromate over cyanotype, hand-printed on Hahnemühle Platinum Rag paper
Framed Size: 24” H x 20” W
Price: $1600 ⅓
Artist Bio:
A photographer for nearly 40 years, Diana’s work has been internationally exhibited and widely published. She specializes in 19th century historic printing techniques, creating visual narratives which she interprets through her hand-made prints and one-of-a-kind artist books. Her images have been included in a number of books, including l’art du livre origami, by Jean-Charles Trebbi; Jill Enfield’s Guide to Photographic Alternative Processes; Christopher James’ The Book of Alternative Photographic Processes; and she is a featured artist in Christina Z. Anderson’s Gum Printing: A Step-by-Step Manual, Highlighting Artists & Their Creative Practice. Diana’s art is also in the permanent collections of the Norton Museum of Art, located in West Palm Beach, Florida; the New Mexico History Museum/Palace of the Governors, located in Santa Fe, New Mexico; in the Collection at Montefiore Einstein, located in White Plains, New York; and in NC State University’s Gregg Museum of Art & Design.
A native North Carolinian, Diana lives and works in Raleigh, North Carolina, where she received her MA in English Literature and Creative Writing from North Carolina State University. She teaches workshops throughout the country, and in her beautiful backyard studio.
Diana is represented by photo- eye Gallery (Photographer’s Showcase), located in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Process:
This image, from my ongoing series, The Old Garden, was printed in a cross-process of two 19th century photographic printing techniques: tricolor gum dichromate and cyanotype. This multi-layered image was hand-printed using digital transparencies, watercolor pigments, potassium dichromate, and gum arabic. This is a contact printing process using only UV light for exposure and then water-developed.
Briefly, the original color image is uploaded to the computer and separated into CMYK negatives. For this image, I started with a cyanotype base, using the C (cyan) negative. Once exposed, water-developed, and dried, I then coated that same print with a mixture (in a very specific ratio) of black watercolor pigment, potassium bichromate and gum arabic. Once this coating dried, I used the K (black) negative to re-register on top of my cyanotype image, exposed that to UV light, water-developed, and dried. This same layering process continues with each CMYK negative corresponding to its watercolor pigment. Each color that should be in the print is hardened in the exposure; each color that shouldn’t be there is not exposed or hardened, and so washes off in the water development phase. A gum dichromate print can be created with as little as one layer, or two, or an infinite number of layers. This particular print has 5 layers.
I love this process, because it’s highly interpretive, endlessly creative, and is unique in its intriguing mix of print-making, painting, and photography.
