Jars in the Window 5th Coat

For those actually following along with the print layering of this gum print, you will notice the subtle differences with each new layer, and I'm pretty sure you are seeing far more of the colors than I, being I don't see red/green for the most part. That of course makes it a bit trickier to make a multi-layered gum print using color pigments. A lot of theory goes into the task. Having shown each layer for the first five layers, I will begin showing photos of the progress when there is sufficient to be noteworthy for the printing process. One of the problems with shooting a gum print that hasn't fully dried and shrank back to flat again is the light reflects off the print differently on the highs and lows, leaving streaking in the image. Not the original image. Also it takes a long time to dry down a freshly floated gum print. Each newly added layers increases the density of the part of the image that needs to dry down, taking more time as printing proceeds.

As a gum printer I would tell you that the obstacle to overcome was the difference in lighting in the image, with the area outside the window at least five stops higher than the foreground of the inside. That had to be bridged to continue printing the overall image as one unit that actually works. The primary goal of each layer is printing to the edge of the light. Once that has been printed down, it's gone and can't be un-gone. At this point in the process the spectral light can be seen in the reflection on the wood wall behind the jars, and the window frame. The window frame is now at the desired zone 7, right at the breaking point of losing the light off the white. The window panes and the area outside the window can be seen filling in a bit more with detail. There are two more full color layers to come for the overall  image; Yellow then Cyan. This will  make the second pass of those colors, which make up the primary range of color that can be applied.

The following two coats have to do two things. Be at the right mixture to continue adding to the detail of the foreground, and not be printed beyond zone 7. Those two things will mean the area outside the window will be further filled in with detail, and a bit of color. It is as that point the the foreground of the image will basically be finished, and I will do any further printing strictly on the window area, hand coating color onto areas that will enhance them, like various colors of green, like Hooker's Green, applied by a small brush on just the leaves of the Oleander bush, black on the tar spilling onto the fascia board at the roof line, and the house underneath. There may be added layering to the window panes, just slightly to increase the reflective detail in them.

This is why gum prints take so  long. They are photographic watercolors that can be manipulated in infinite ways. And that, is the beauty of this process, it is the most difficult to learn simply because there are so many possibilities. The actual process can be taught easily enough, if one knows what it is that controls the printing process. Few do. There are the wet/dry areas to the lower portion of the print, the bottom is the last to dry, leaving what looks like streaks in the darker areas. Reflective light, as the surface of a gum print is shiny. The next example will be after the next two coats, which finished up the foreground area, when the 'specialty' coating begins. Going through the posted images the progress can be seen, in color shifts and more detail along the way. More to come.

Jars in the Window ~ Fifth Coating ~ Cyan