"Skinner's Cabin" ~ Gum over Palladium Print

Having recently been resupplied with printing paper and some chemistry I have begun again working on the gum over portfolio, this print in the places portfolio. Two more prints upcoming of people finish that portfolio. The images I have prepared are sort of an eclectic collection of images, some shot over thirty years ago, like The Blue Goose, a now defunct rail line with the last of the engines. Fun stuff for me, as well as something of a challenge, of how to treat the image, realism or something entirely different.

This print has five gum layers over the palladium print, with two layers of split colors, applied locally. The effort is to further separate colors and tonalities, to increase the depth of the image. One of the biggest headaches for me is arriving at a representative digital copy of the original  print, being nearly color blind red/green. I'm close though. The cabin is an historical cabin set on Skinner's Butte, a steep hill on the north side of Eugene, Oregon, where I used to live.

As I progress with these gum over prints I continue to learn subtleties of the technique. What I have found I am after is setting a mood, using soft colors separated by tonalities. There is usually always a focal point of light, like the cabin in this image. This is where holding the light right at zone 7 is important, emulating what light would do if it were shining down on a subject, and how that would play out on the different textures and surfaces.

Gum over Palladium Print
"Skinner's Cabin" ~ 8x10 ~ Unique
Eugene, Oregon ~ Skinner's Butte