Recently, I have realized how much I need to make art (and the process of artmaking) part of my weekly – if not daily – routine.  The years I spent in graduate school spoiled me, providing structure and regimen to the creative process that rarely exists outside the confines of academia.  Over the last couple months, I’ve tried to emulate this structure and fabricate the guilt that accompanies my project work: the reluctance to put off artmaking for another day because ridiculous self-prescribed deadlines loom.  Although not a perfect system, it has got me back in the darkroom and out in the sun, developing prints, mixing emulsions and having fun creating, as artmaking has become a daily chore of mine.

Family hikes and highway roadtrips provide ample opportunity to crack out the pinhole camera, load up an underused camera or make some vintage paper lumengraphs.  This Memorial Day weekend’s trip up the Steese Highway to the Upper Chatanika River provided a perfect opportunity for this sort of exploration.  A favorite family getaway, the wayside at Mile 40 has provided us with family fun for the last three summers, as I’ve played with Aidan on the rocky banks of the Chatanika for hours constructing rock dams.  Some of my favorite childhood memories revolve around these type of moments – and I hope to instill the same love for these moments in my son.  With Grandparents in tow, we made the regular family outing even more special.

Cracking out the recently-gifted SunPaper packet (thanks to Dennis and Annemarie) was one of many creative options I brought with us – but it was the one that provided instant results to share immediately in this blogpost.  Aidan’s made Cyanotype prints before when I volunteered at his school last year, helping his Kindergarten class creating ~20 prints and one large queen-sized fabric mural, but this was his chance to really create – using the entire forest as his paintbrush:

Aidan came out with two splendid Cyanotypes for the day – each involving local flora.  I’m quite proud of how well his prints came out (and I’m pretty certain that I’ve got a little artist on my hands):

I wasn’t nearly as impressed by my own work – but I did come out with a single cyanotype that I was very happy with. I managed to find a few features while scrounging around for materials in the forest and I think that they came out quite well:

Perhaps the work produced on the Chatanika in late May won’t become part of any serious body of work – it isn’t about that. It’s about connecting with my family and my passions at the same time rather than continuing to keep the two separate. It’s about being creative without always having to sacrifice. It’s about appreciating the “play” in artmaking and embracing it, no matter the outcomes.