Original cyanotype art, handmade in Seattle

A piece of
Seattle sunshine
to take home.

Botanicals, city stories, humor, and fleeting light, composed and printed by hand in Prussian blue.

Move through the light

01 / The artist

The artist
behind the blue.

Tianci Dong is a an artist based in Seattle trained in visual storytelling, new media, and communication.

She studied at Beijing Film Academy and completed postgraduate study in New Media at the University of Leicester. After years in media, visual communication, and advertising, including Ogilvy & Mather, she returned to a process first encountered in childhood.

Her cyanotypes transform Seattle’s plants, places, humor, and fleeting sunlight into bold handmade artworks. Through Seattle Sunshine™, she explores nature, place, memory, and the distinctive light of the Pacific Northwest.

Tianci is also a filmmaker and contributed to Lifeline, a Qualcomm short film awarded a Bronze Lion at the 2017 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

Artist Tianci Dong gathering botanical material among green ferns — Tianci Dong · Seattle, Washington

Archival photograph of Tianci's mother working with industrial blueprints

02 / A blue process across generations

Nearly fifty years
of seeing in blue.

My connection to cyanotype began in childhood. Nearly fifty years ago, my mother worked with an industrial blueprint process in China, and I first encountered this distinctive way of making images in blue when I was about four years old.

After moving to Seattle, I rediscovered the process through a new awareness of how precious and fleeting sunlight feels here. Each print preserves a temporary moment, such as a local plant, a familiar place, or one of Seattle’s rare bright days. It also connects my mother’s generation with the place I now call home.

03 / Selected work

Four connected
bodies of work.

Every piece is recognizable at a distance: deep Prussian blue, generous negative space, and a narrative instinct carried over from film work.

Wild Blue

Plants, flowers, ferns, and seasonal botanicals from Seattle become movement, rhythm, texture, and memory through handmade cyanotype.

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Wild Blue collection cover by Tianci Dong — Wild Blue · 12 works

City Blue

Seattle landmarks, neighborhoods, characters, and local stories rendered from original photographs, negatives, and compositions cut by hand.

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City Blue collection cover by Tianci Dong — City Blue · 5 works

Blue Says

Typography designed by the artist, wordplay, humor, and everyday encouragement are printed in sunlight.

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Blue Says collection cover by Tianci Dong — Blue Says · 7 works

Beyond Blue

Cyanotypes transformed with acrylic color, wash, and layered exposure in an ongoing material study.

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Beyond Blue collection cover by Tianci Dong — Beyond Blue · 6 works

04 / Designed and handmade

Sunlight is
part of the process.

No generative AI is used in the creation of these artworks. Every cyanotype is individually composed, exposed, washed, and finished by hand. Variations in weather, plants, and exposure make each print unique.