Untitled (Entanglement #9514-3) copyright 2023 Douglas Stockdale –
Each year over the holidays, after reflecting on the past year’s events, I speculate on what I might want to accomplish for the following year. You can call it planning ahead or a New Year’s Resolution. For me, this process does not set in stone what I will work on, as this is more about personal reflection and subsequent development.
Such as what was intriguing this holiday was my transition back into considering ‘traditional’ inkjet/pigment printing to complement my interest in cyanotype printing. I think this was triggered in part by the development of my Holiday card, my first pigment print in over a year. At the time I printed it, I was just attempting to create a Holiday card, really nothing more, but apparently I crossed over some kind of an emotional barrier. Today, it just seems like pigment printing is no big deal, just something in my personal creative arsenal. Not something I felt a month ago. Strange, but I am going with it. So more about that shortly.
Since no one has bought the company I have been working part-time as my day-job, I will continue with that paying gig for a while longer. We will be starting another clinical trial later this year, this time for Parkinson’s disease (PD), while continuing our clinical work on Sickle Cell Disease. And the NIH is continuing to fund our pre-clinical pain development project, which is also for Sickle Cell Disease. It’s my science side that also inspires my interest in my environmental projects.
I am continuing to develop my Entanglement series. I may not be photographing the surrounding decommissioned WWII urban landscape as much, while working more on the cyanotype printing and associated hand-sewing the resulting prints. Metaphorically, the hand-sewn print above is the same cyanotype print that I shared in my earlier year-in-review article before I completed the hand-sewing.
Similarly, I will continue to develop my Last Iceberg series of imaginary seascapes that investigates what might the last iceberg look like if global warming continues unabated. I am taking a short break working on this while I contemplate how I might want to proceed with this series.
Speaking of cyanotype printing, I started to experiment with even larger cyanotype prints utilizing the entire 11 x 14″ sheet in conjunction with my LED UV printer and I have come to realize that there are some underlying issues with the UV coverage with this printer. No issues with the 9 x 9″ images for my Entanglement series, it’s the coverage on the edges when I print wider to 12″ and beyond. So I will probably be investing in a new LED UV printer soon. I must be really improving on my cyanotype printing to start noticing this print value subtle.
While over the Holidays, I had been thinking a lot about what projects do I really want to spend my time on and it seems that my two themes for the past few years has been a focus on environment (Last Iceberg) and civil (Entanglement) issues, with a little sprinkling of aesthetic / poetic images. I suspect that will continue. I would like to think that my series might have an impact on others, such as those will make decisions about the environment and/or civil engagement (democracy). I guess at a minimum, I can only hope that these series will inspire someone to vote this year for those who are attempting to do the right thing about the environment or democracy.
That probably is my one New Year’s Resolution that I fully intend to carry out: Vote in every election, and second; Vote for only those candidates who are trying to improve the environment and who support democracy.
Untitled (#9514-3) copyright 2023, hand-sewn classic cyanotype print, image is 9 x 9″ on a 11 x 14″ sheet of Revere Platinum hot press cotton rag. Variable Edition of 5 + 1AP
Make every day an Earth Day
Doug
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Book development workshop:
Update: Developing a Creative Photo Book, on Zoom with SouthEast Center for Photography (SEC4P), January 20 & 21st and 27th, & 28th, 2024, from 10 AM – 1 PM, Eastern Standard Time (EST).
New: Book Making with Douglas Stockdale, on Zoom with Medium Photo, March 16-17 & 23-24th (4 sessions, two consecutive weekends), 2024, from 9am-12pm (Pacific Standard Time).
Artist book available:
The Flow of Light Brushes the Shadow, an artist book from Singular Images Press, 2022, $60.00 (CA sales tax for those residing in the USA) plus shipping expenses. Message me douglas.stockdale.artist@gmail.com
Singular Images 