October marks Long Beach Arts Month, and the Long Beach Post has partnered with the Arts Council for Long Beach to celebrate the image makers, the painters, the dancers, the designers, the musicians, and the countless other artists who make our city vibrant and cultured. Our homepage will feature an artist’s own unique interpretation of Long Beach daily, so make sure to check back every weekday to discover or rediscover a local talent.

Having grown up in Bellflower, painter and photographer Hannah Griffith moved to Long Beach five years ago and has no intention of going elsewhere. After all, she got her arts education at Long Beach City College—where she continually gives a shout-out to arts professor Brian Doan—and she is deep believer that her environment contributed to her identity.

“I have loved creating art all of my life, with painting and photography being my main foci,” Griffith said. “I simply cannot decide which I like more so my goal is to continue to grow with both, and lately I have been developing ways to combine the two.”

Her endless desire to pursue both has led her to intensively cyanotype, a photographic printing process that are more commonly called blueprints. Using ammonium iron citrate and potassium ferricyanide, Griffith creates a photosensitive solution that is applied to either photo negatives or hand-drawn negative—or in her case, both.

As for this creation—an awesomely sublime mixture of surrealism, anthropomorphism, illustration, and painting—Griffith has on inspiration: existence.

“I am inspired so much by pure existence,” Griffith said. “Existence of anything: humans, consciousness, the flora and the fauna, mystery, the vast universe, and how everything really connects.”

See more at hannahgriffithart.com.