"The Artist" ~ Gum Layer 2

This print image isn't a complex one to print. The character of the image is indirect north light from a window, a soft lit scene implicating intimacy with the subject, in their environment, with them feeling comfortable enough to lay back to be photographed. Mark was an oil painter by training, and fell in love with the gum printing I was doing at the time. He was the first photographer I showed how to make gum prints. He was a natural. The image reflects our friendship and relaxed atmosphere during this photograph. The shot was not posed. I set up my Century Graflex 6x9 on a tripod as collapsed as possible, chatting philosophy with him.

This print layer is made up of two color mixtures: Raw Umber and Phthalo Blue. The umber was a fairly sheer mix and applied only to the wood on the wall. The blue was mixed until the blue was still translucent, and laid over the subject's shirt and jeans. With the yellow dichromate stain remaining in the print the shirt and jeans look green(ish). Even my eye can see that. When that has been cleared it will leave a soft, weathered blue on the clothes. Again, I am using color to separate background from foreground, this time with the background a warm tone and the foreground (clothes) cool toned, with the mid-ground a more neutral tone separating them.

Gum over Palladium ~ Gum Layer 2 ~ Split Tone
Phthalo blue and Raw Umber
"The Artist" ~ 8x10