Re: Tri-Curious Seeks Other Tri-Quad Curious Gummists
Michael etc., - Proper curves (or neg's) = >Then vary the pigment saturation for balancing. (Ah ha! But does that not change the curve? Not enough to matter?) Not enough to matter. I've been doing this...making stocks...observations...colours have been separating out. Some float on top some stay mixed pretty well but somethingYeah. I don't use cerulean because it is very heavy and weak for its price ($$$!). I feel the same about nickel titanate--both are heavy, sink to bottom. But I just shake. BTW, those two colors together are the same type of softness so if you have them, try them together in a tricolor. Nickel titanate leans greenish which is good for blues. . A "2 Series" and a "5 Series" You've taught me something here; I have never seen that M. Graham has series, having only seen the one in the shops I've been to. I always buy artist grade watercolors no matter the brand, and usually use M. Graham, Maimeri, and Daniel Smith. Winsor Newton is fine, too, but more expensive. Then a Rowney yellow in there--I've searched out a couple pigments I find nowhere else, like the Rowney PY 138 (also in Fragonard brand but I can't locate that brand) and the Maimeri PY139 Permanent Yellow Deep. Rowney is clown yellow, Maimeri as I said is dayglo goldish road sign yellow.(in M.Graham) are vary different with regards to viscosity and coverage (pigment load?!). So I've been having to "tune" each pigment:gum:dichromate:water ratio mix to compensate. Is this just the nature of the beast? Also something that crossed my mind. Have you ever used honey or glycerine > as a "cutting" medium or in addition to gum in the stock? They seem to be> the other principle ingredients in the watercolour tube.No I have not, but they used to use those as...shoot...what is the term....when mixing powdered pigments into a paste so that the granules don't flocculate or separate or grain on you, that was used to grind with. I keep thinking of the word "levigator" but that isn't it. Henry, the problem with magenta in the sky is a pain. I find that brushing, as you do, is fine. I also find this is one problem alleviated by a good curve. I also find that the magenta layer needs more careful development. Other observations are that I have noticed a difference in exposure and response between blue reds (magenta) and orange reds (true reds) but I've been too busy to really nail that down lately for sure, tho I have a different curve for each. I just tend to get flaking with orange reds, and certain ones at that, that I don't get with magenta. Red reds are in the middle, sort of like the blue reds. But the whole question of color, as Judy brought up, is the one benefit of gum printing. My daughter said last week that my gum prints often look 1970's in color. That was a very interesting observation, because my theory about color is that it is the locus of emotion in a work, and that by changing the color palette you change the emotion of the piece. Not a deep idea that hasn't occurred to everyone else....but you can see this perhaps under CZAphotography.com>Images>Gum Dichromate>Found Image Vanitas >image 5 which is called "State Fair". In that one I had perfect skin tone, and then decided to scrape it off a la Jack Brubaker Scotch Brite pad down to a garish greenish skin tone. I LOVED it. It also was juried into a show at the Lowe Gallery in Atlanta. Then, an image I printed for the show at the Kucera Gallery in Corpus Christi this coming month of my dad holding my mom up high with one arm I printed REALLY dark, except for her little 5 ft 1 body which is in a very orange fleshy tone. blah blah blah. Color balancing IMHO is something you should master, and then vary. As you can tell, I could go on and on about gum...and the best thing about gum is you can always print one more layer. And the worst thing about gum is that once you think you have it "all sewn up", you get thrown a loop that you have NO explanation for. I think that is why I love it so much is it is an unpredictable lover--never boring. SHOOT, I have to go to work!!! Chris
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