Gum Revisited ~ "The Old Jerome Hotel"

Being I am stuck in the middle of the stream with the digital negatives. I continue to print in gum. The last post was an update on the current gum print "The Flute Player". This post is a revisited look at the first gum print I made recently, after finishing the new darkroom. A second look at the image might offer up a bit of insight into the application of color to local areas. In some cases this is due to the printer's whim, other times it has more to do with handling an area of the print image in a predictable way.

This print image had a large contiguous area (sky) that I wanted to end up somewhere in the sky blue range, using several color layers along the way to better define that area, while leaving it a specific color range. There are four color layers representing the sky, with a cyan run on top. The distant hills and closer patches and areas of natural flora, and dirt, and the task was to separate those areas by enhancing their color layers to a specific scheme. There was living greenery to consider, hopefully ending up greenish, and ground/dirt areas, some in the shade, others in the distance where the afternoon sun is evident. Each of those areas got specific color mixtures applied to them respectively. The first four print layers were KGYC, in that order, then the color region applications began. I stray outside the four basic CYMK colors from time to time for specific applications, like using Yellow Ochre in the background areas I wanted to appear to be in late afternoon sun. Or stacking a bit thicker mixture of Cadmium Yellow over live growth foliage followed by Cyan, sometimes more than once to an area.

As careful as I was attempting to be when printing this gum image, I can see several things I could do better now, and that is what I am doing with this current print, improving after each finished print. Each prints shows you something new about how things turn out, compared to what you thought you might get at the front end. When you can predict the outcome of a stack of color layers, you have arrived. I believe this gum print is nine printings, using more than sixteen separate color applications.

Each print I make, whether a Kallitype, palladium or gum print, has a Certificate of Authenticity, disclosing all details of that print. All silver or palladium print are in limited editions of 5, with one artist's proof kept by the artist. I never tire of saying that any serious photographic artist, and the operable word being "artist", is selling themselves short by selling their "art" in open editions. Any gum I print will be unique, no artist's proof, no copies. Just the finished print. And when that print turns out nicely, after several weeks of printmaking, I am going to want a hefty price for said gum prints.

"The Old Jerome Hotel"
8x10 ~ Unique