Understory
by Blue Myers
A forest floor in layers — cyanotype-printed ferns, Solomon's seal, clover, and yarrow collaged against pressed autumn leaves and a warm watercolor ground. Mushroom forms in white linework anchor the lower third. The Pacific Sideband snail (Monadenia fidelis), native to moist coastal forests from BC to northern California, appears at center. Land snails are sensitive to soil chemistry and moisture — their presence signals a functioning understory. Solomon's seal grows in exactly these conditions: shade, damp soil, decomposing leaf matter. Yarrow and clover establish at forest edges; ferns appear in every layer of an intact PNW understory. Began as a cyanotype — a photographic process from 1842 using UV light to record plant forms in direct contact with paper — then moved through hand collage and digital composition. A print of a mixed-media original spanning nearly two centuries of image-making technology.
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