Thursday, Apr. 08, 2021 - 1:26 p.m.

Yesterday was difficult. I was in charge of getting E ready and to school, and failed at that somehow. Whole morning gone. I ended up getting lots of things done out of sheer spite, but I didn’t enjoy it.

I did some cyanotypes, did a mandala. I probably shouldn’t call it a mandala since that’s connected to a spiritual practice that’s not one I engage in. But anyway, a radially symmetric composition. It was pretty simple but I liked how it turned out.

It’s one of these things that I can imagine someone making absolutely amazing if they took it to its conclusion. Will that person be me? Doubtful, it never is. But I may fiddle with it a bit more.

As someone mentioned on my FB post of it, it’s very reminiscent of some European folk art.

The challenges are that, with it on photosensitive paper I have to work in dimmed light in a hurry or else. I somewhat fixed that by making the arrangement I did today on a piece of thin acrylic sheeting, and setting that on top of the paper after it was complete. It had the advantage of letting enough light underneath that there was some dimensionality to it and shadow from the movement of the sun.

Second challenge is that of course if I take too long arranging things, leaves will wilt while I’m still working. Some I dried and can reuse to some extent, but not all dry well. It’s hard to clip a variety of material and get it all arranged quickly enough.

What will I do with them? No idea.

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