"Grandps's Cabin" ~ Gum over Palladium

Finally, I have arrived at the finished print I had envisioned; for the most part. Every print teaches me something, with better insight to the color pallet and how I can use it. Being mostly color blind to red/green, that makes a difference. That leaves me to printing by utilizing subtractive color theory; watercolor principles. A gum print is technically a photographic watercolor.

For now, I'm staying with Revere Platinum paper, now, pre-shrunk twice, before making the palladium print, over which the gum is lain. As I noted in an earlier post on making this print, the decisions made on the printing procedures had to do with the balance between the dramatic effect of deep shadows, and, how much the viewer is able to see, in those shadows. The choice between zone 2 and zone 3. Although the first run of this print was with much deeper shadows, leaving all the object nearly obscure, in the darkness. As can be seen, I opted to open up the shadows, and use color to set the objects aside from the otherwise dark background.

The outcome of those decisions will be judged by the viewer. I arrived at the spot I had planned, so I any credits or criticisms for my efforts. A secondary decision to be made was how obvious the lighting, which is the other side of shadow and darkness. To capture the appearance of light is to hold the tonal range for light, which is between zone 6 and zone 7, then use a color that when printed to that tonality, represents the appearance of light. For me, that light color comes down to Yellow Ochre and Quinacridone Gold, mostly depending on whether said light is reflected off objects or seen directly, like through a window. From that, then, is how much color to use, so as not to make the whole affair fake, artificial.

Those cumulative decisions sum to the posted print; liked or disliked.Another variable with these printed images, is my ability to faithfully replicate the print image, digitally copied. Something that fills in a lot of ceiling-watch time.

Gum over Palladium Print

"Grandpa's Cabin" ~ 11x14 Unique

Willamette's Douglas Forest, Oregon

Grandpa's Cabin ~ Gum over Palladium Print

Up until now, I have been printing in multiple mediums, at the time respectively, the printing was related to the corresponding book I was writing, about the medium being used. That series of five books is now complete, the constant production of fresh prints has pretty much ended. When I began printing again four years ago, I was involved with a photographer's group using the group's organizer's large darkroom, made available as a public darkroom for members. The organizer hadn't been yet subjected to hand coating processes, and wanted to learn, upon hearing me wax heavy of the shear awesomeness of it, to begin with.

That was then, and a year later, with a nudge from my wife, said custom darkroom took shape, from what was once a shop, of some sort. Ripped everything out including the walls and rebuilt. That, changed everything. For those photographers who are black & white film users, and hand coating enthusiasts, who have had their own cherished darkroom; you know. Making the first salt paper print, in another photographer's darkroom, was nothing short of magical for me. Having my own darkroom, with all the chemicals I need to mix anything I want, is beyond my ability to expressive it in words. I take my work quite seriously.

 

The current print I am working on is getting more thought from me than most other prints I've even done, with the exception to "The Flute Player". That was twenty one print layers, using thirty six colors. I did a lot of thinking on that one. The considerations I'm making on this current print has more to do with interpreting the scene itself, than on the variant ways of doing it. They question was simply, how do I want this image of an old cabin, with odd things in the setting, with window to the outside. A standing at the at the counter, with window. There is ample shadow in the setting, some quite deep, much in zone 2 territory.

The question I had was, how much of the image should be swallowed by shadow? How much textural detail should be seen outside the window, in full sunlight, against dark shadow? 'The strongest way of seeing'. Then, begin to add the gum. Where to hold the light, how much? Each gum layer darkening the wood, most in shadow. Lots of interesting interpretation, before the planned printing, to hold each tonal range where it belongs in the planned finished image. That's the task. Seeing what you want to print. In the end, the print will be my vision, regardless of outside considerations. That, for an artist, is all that matters.

 

As with any photographic printing, one prints to the highlights; zone 6-7, depending on the lighting conditions and texture the light is reflecting off of. That means that when applying the gum over the tonalities of the print beneath, care must be taken to coat areas with a similar or equal print time. Coating a mid-tone object simultaneously with a highlight area, such as the situation with this print, with interior shadow and exterior brilliant sunshine outside the window, by the time the elements outside the window have been printed in sufficiently not to float away, the color(s) in the mid-tone area will be permanent, unlikely to float off or likely even brush off at that point. The printing needs to be organized by print time.

 

And that, only works if the printer isn't employing an all over coating of gum to the print, but working in localized areas. For those printers coating the entire image each layer, thought then has to be on the saturation of the gum mixture being applied, as it will have less affect on lower tonalities than mid-tones, and to a lessor degree, highlights. the gum layering is organized around print time.

This print is being printed on Revere Platinum paper. This paper works quite well for palladium printing, which is what it was made for, as well as gum printing, as the tooth is just right. If a gum only print is to be made, then the paper would need to have a hot-dip layer of sizing, probably at a 

2 1/2% solution of gelatin, as the paper has  sizing for palladium printing, not gum. The paper I have found to be my favorite over all others is Fabriano Artistico 140lb hot press watercolor paper. That paper is sized in the inter=ior and exterior, prints very nicely for gum over palladium and gum printing

I will be printing layer six on this print tomorrow. One layer per day, full dry down. The pre-shrinking process of one hot dip in water at 120ºF for one minute, works well for paper cut to make an 8"x10" print, on 11"x14" paper. That has always worked well. Once the paper size reaches the 15"x19 1/2" size to make a 11"14" print image for a gum over palladium, One hot dip isn't enough. The paper tends to shrink at the width. Two ot dips is recommended, and for those that aren't in a hurry, three hot dips would be best for no shrinkage. No pun intended. There is no image to show for now, but soon. Then, comments are welcome.

 

Gum over Palladium Print

"Grandpa's Cabin" ~ 11"x14"

 

"Sacred Dance" ~ Gum over Palladium Print

The print image of The Pub, continued the evolution of my gum over printing. My colors in my earlier gum over prints were muted, like soft pastels. At the time, that was the mood I was after, especially with the prints of people. It worked, then. Now, I am after bolder colors. What remains constant in my printing, is the light.  Capturing and holding the light in the setting, which sets the mood. Photographers is 'painting with light' and I would tell you, the object of painting with light is to hold that light to the visual range, setting the mood.

This image was taken in 1999, at a Pow Wow in Tucson, Arizona. Like the portfolio I have of Tombstone, AZ, with only period objects and dress are seen, with one caveat. Being we are in the age of digital imaging, my negatives are printed on an Epson 1430 printer, onto Arista II OHP transparency film [7-mil], after a journey through Lightroom 6, then on to Paintshop Pro X9, for prepping for the printer, flipping, adding an adjustment <curve> if needed, then sent to the printer. That takes two laptops, with each program nesting in its own environment. Not that I like that arrangement.

Paintshop Pro is Photoshop for digital photography, doing everything PS does, layering, masking, <curves> and things Photoshop can't do for photographic images. One of those very usable tools is the lovely clone tool. I particularly love that one, it can eliminate all manner of unwanted parts to an image. In the case of this image, that happened to be a line of EazyUp tents, and white folk standing about staring at Native American dancers in full regalia. What I saw, was the sacred Eagle Dance, on the plains, late afternoon. The clone brush made it so. Being a serial confessor, I will admit to a personal quirk of my work. In each of the prints I have of historical reference, somewhere in that image, there will be one subtle artifact that indicates it truer historical timeline. Something one would have to look for.

In this print, that one thing is the fourth dancer, in the background. A women, but wearing pants, not in Native dress. She is also facing the opposite direction than the male dancers. I hesitated several seconds before taking that shot, I saw the woman, at the time, facing the same direction as the men. I pulled back from the camera to see why she was there, to then see she was dancing in a woman's circle. as I returned to the view finder I saw she had reversed direction, now in opposition to the men, and, behind them enough that it pushed the mid-ground much further back, separating the dancers better from the background.Technically, most of these Indians aren't Plains Indians, as in Cheyenne, Arapaho, Sioux, and the like. These were Mescalero and San Carlos Apache, Navajo, and probably Hopi.

Some of the things I want to do with the gum I didn't try here, as i didn't want experimental efforts on this image, or the other two that I will be printing soon. I wanted to keep the image respectful, and as close to the original colors and design as I could. I have attempted to print this image dozens of time, over the course of four years. Each and every attempt, regardless of the medium, ended up with a blemish in the print, and usually always in the sky, most times right over the dancer's heads. A line of little black lines, like birds in flight, circling overhead, or other iterations. Sometimes a smudge or line in a promenant spot. Dozens of times. When you live in the southwest long enough, legends tend to take on a different hue. The Natives do not like their likeness captured, especially without their knowledge or consent. Well, you know where that leads.

After promising the Grandfathers I would honor the dancers and only do one print each, if they'd allow me to come up with a pristine print. Yeah, I'm familiar with superstitious behavior, but I really wanted to print this image. Once the palladium image was on the paper, clean, the rest was making it come alive, as best I could. Again, it is the light I am most interested in. There are a number of colors in the image I am unable to see, some at all, being about 90% color blind to red/green. I print theoretically, using subtractive color theory. I know what it's supposed to look like. Best I can do.

The palladium print was printed on Revere Platinum paper, pre-shrunk before printing.

Gum over Palladium Print
"Sacred Dance" ~ 11x14 ~ Unique
Tucson, Arizona

"The Pub" ~ Gum over Palladium Print

This print image was sot in Old Town, St. Augustine, Florida; a pub opened in the 17th century, and still open today. All operations in Old Town are period, establishments, street setting and personal dress. I stepped through the door of this pub, out of the bright sunshine, pulled up the camera and snapped the image. No time for laying anything out. I didn't even know until later that I even got a workable image at the time it was taken.

This image was printed on Fabriano Artistico 140lb hot press watercolor paper. This print has ten print runs of gum, over the palladium print, using about 15 color mixes. It also continues the evolution of my gum printing technique. The overall intent of this print image was recreating the mood of a 17th century pub, lighting and textural quality of the interior. Things like the barrister's white blouse, and the fisherman's outfit, and parrot. The lighting in the back room was to be a bit brighter than the bar scene, with walls that looked like an old well worn pub setting. That was the intent. It's up to the viewer for any connection to the image.

Gum over Palladium Print
"The Pub" ~ 11x14 ~ Unique
Old Town, St. Augustine, Florida

New Work ~ Gum over palladium Print

I have shifted my blogging to the blog on my website, however, this blog seems to attract printers, so it behooves me to post here as well. To catch up, I have finished the five books on photographic processes; "Alchemist's Guide; to Printing in Gum" ~ and Gum over Palladium.  Four years in the works completing that project. I now have ten portfolios of prints, forming the bulk of my body of work. For now I continue to print gum over palladium prints, now, in 11x14 format.

I have posted past gum over palladium prints, layer at a time, to show how the process proceeds, as technique. The thing to keep in mind is the gum process is very malleable, conforming to the printer's personal creativity. There are no real boundaries. When I began making gum prints, I had only a knowledge of the process, which is sufficient to begin, What I lacked was coming to understand technique, which comes after one begins learning technique. Technique is what shapes the print image to the printer's vision of what the image is to look like.

I am an avowed Pictorialist. No the fuzzy out of focus shots of young women in white gossamer dress holding a glass ball in the misty forest, near a lake. That'd be Clarence White. The Pictorial Effect has to do with creating an overall mood for the print image, by using technique to shape the elements in such a way it is 'the strongest way of seeing'. Dramatic, such that the viewer can more directly feel the emotional connection the printer had with the image. That takes time, and a lot of printing.

Next up is the first of the 11x14 gum over palladium prints in the newest portfolio. I will be noting the basics elements of the printing process, to give the reader a way of seeing how the print went together. The current print I am working on is the third print in the portfolio,a and one that I have been spending more time on, evaluating exactly what I want out of it. More on that when I post the print. Soon.