Seaweed and shell cyanotype

The calming effect of the colour blue

How I made this piece

Blue is now known to lower stress and anxiety, and the beach is the place I feel stress free, creative and calm.

All the seaweeds used to create this piece were collected from the tideline by me. Sometimes I use them fresh but these were all carefully dried flat in advance. They were all stray pieces, I never cut seaweed from the rocks. The pieces for this artwork were collected from beaches around the Isle of Man and carried back to Yorkshire in my rucksack. The shell is made with a  large format negative from my own photograph of a shell I collected from the beaches around Shetland in a very windy April.

Cyanotype is an early photographic technique discovered in the 1842 and I never tire of experimenting with it. I coat the paper with the cyanotype chemicals and dry it in a dark space. I then arrange objects on the paper and expose it to sunlight. The length of time in the sunlight dictates the depth of the blue.

Each piece is unique, no two pieces will ever be the same. (not every piece works!) The way I mix the chemicals, the strength of the light, the length of time I leave them exposed makes every piece as unique as the beautiful objects I collect to make them

This work is unframed Image radius 34cm
© Alison Hawkins 2025. No usage or reproduction of the artwork is permitted without written permission Shipping information This artwork will be lightly rolled in tissue paper and secured in a cardboard tube. International Customers Customs duty, additional postage or other fees are the responsibility of the buyer