Cyanotype Coloured Animal Portraits at Rheged

Written by: Heather

Location: Penrith
Venue: Rheged
Duration: Full day

As part of Cumbria Tourism’s 50th anniversary, the team are trying out 50 different tourism experiences throughout the year – to help inspire your own days out across the Lake District, Cumbria. Heather Sewell took on the challenge of a workshop focusing on cyanotype coloured animal portraits with local artist David Lush.

Ideal for beginners, the workshop took place at Rheged - a gallery, café, cinema, shopping venue, workplace and creative space on the edge of the North Lakes. There was a small friendly bunch of eight participants on the day; some were from just down the road while others came from much further afield.

After getting the lowdown on the cyanotype process and the way artists have used it to generate artwork over the years, it was time to get down to the fun stuff – but not before we had collected together all the equipment we’d need for the day on our individual work stations. Intriguingly, this included weighing scales, paintbrushes, a special UV light box and even some clothes hangers. (Who knew?!)

Although I’m no stranger to painting and drawing, art experience definitely isn’t a pre-requisite. You don’t need to be a mad scientist either, as cyanotype is one of the safest photo printing methods around – although we did all don some special googles, just to be on the safe side.

The first step involved weighting out some (non-toxic) chemicals, mixing a light sensitive solution and coating some A4 paper. The ‘test run’ saw us using a variety of seemingly innocuous plant materials like dandelions and long strands of grass to create dramatic blue and white images by exposing the treated paper to UV light. I soon found out that the longer you leave it under the light, the stronger the print!

After a couple of goes, it was time to move onto animal negatives to create multiple animal-inspired images. This was where the coat hangers came in handy… After treating each piece of paper, each cyanotype needed immersing in a water bath to fix the image and then hanging up to thoroughly dry out before the final stage.

In the afternoon, it was all about hand-colouring a couple of our favourite images to add some extra colour and personality. (I used coloured pencils, but you could use everything from pastels and water colours to tea and coffee stains if preferred).

All in all, it was a great introduction to an alternative photographic process and a unique way of creating animal portraits. Special thanks go to David Lush, who is not only a talented artist but really put everyone at ease, no matter their skills and experience.

Heather with some of the artwork she produced during the workshop.

The cyanotype workshop is one of the many regular creative sessions taking place at Rheged throughout the year.  And a bonus tip… dropping into the deli at lunchtime was a real treat for the tastebuds too.

Rheged is open Sunday to Thursday: 8.30am – 5.30pm, Friday & Saturday: 8.30am – 7pm (Café: 9am – 5pm; Shops and Gallery: 10am – 5.30pm).

For more information visit:

The Rheged website

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