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Why a Canvas Giclee Art Print? Canvas Giclee (pronounced “zhee-clay”) Art Prints, without question, are the closest you can get to the actual quality and likeness of an original oil painting on canvas. Next to the original, their quality and beauty is unmatched by any other medium. They are truly museum-quality fine art reproductions. The only thing better than a standard Canvas Giclee Fine Art Print is a Hand Embellished Canvas Giclee Fine Art Print. A hand embellish Giclee is hand detailed by the artist adding depth and texture to the print similar to what you find on the original painting. Hand embellished Canvas Giclee prints have the authentic look and feel of brushstrokes. In fact, from across the room a hand embellished Giclee can be hard to distinguish from the original printing! Back to top What is a Giclee Art Print? Typically there are two types of Giclée art prints. One is on canvas and the other on paper. Giclee on Paper prints have a beautiful satin-finish, and offer the finest reproduction of the painting's "imageness"; the Giclee on Canvas prints have the look and feel of the original painting and offer the finest reproduction of the painting's "objectness". Giclee is French for "to sprayr out", a term that refers to the way ink is applied to canvas or paper by a special large-format, ultra-high-resolution color ink-jet printer that create museum-quality fine art reproductions. This is accomplished by laying a series of fine dots so closely together that even under high magnification the dot pattern is virtually invisible and the image appears to be continuous-tone - like the original painting itself. Giclee prints achieve near-perfect fidelity to the original artwork. Back to top What are the Benefits of Giclee Fine Art Prints? In addition to being the most beautiful and accurate art reproductions made, Giclees, now using recently developed archival inks and papers, are also among the most archival. Independent testing by Wilhelm Imaging Research Inc. (a world-leader in image-longevity testing) has established that Giclee prints made with quality canvas or on the very finest archival papers, and utilizing archival pigmented-inks will last as long as 200 years before any noticeable shift in color integrity occurs. Canvas Giclee Prints do not need to be framed with protective glass so the image can be seen clearly without the glare that can negatively impact the pleasure of viewing a print under glass. Back to top How do You Care for Giclee Fine Art Prints? It is important to treat all Giclees just like you would any original piece of art. Like an original painting, the way you frame it and care for it will affect the life of the image. Do not display your art in areas of high concentrations of UV light or heat. All artwork, fine-art reproductions and original oil paintings, MUST be kept away from direct sunlight. Giclee prints are best viewed under neutral-colored light, so use correct colored art lighting for best results. Giclee on Paper prints are meant to be framed under glass with acid-free mattboards; Giclee on Canvas prints are meant to be stretched on canvas stretcher-bars (a service offered by most good framers) and framed with frame only (no glass or mattboards) - just like original oil paintings. When framing a quality paper Giclee be sure to use a reputable framer who uses archival products that will assist in keeping your print looking good for generations to come. Always use mats or spacers to keep the print from touching the glass. Once framed your Giclee should give you years of pleasure provided it is displayed correctly. A Canvas Giclee is made up of three layers – the canvas, the IRC (Ink Receptor Coating) and the laminate which is sprayed or rolled on after printing. The finished product needs to be treated a bit differently then the canvas you paint on. Overstretching may cause separation of the coating from the base in extreme cases. The most important aspect of framing your canvas Giclees is to use the correct profile for the stretcher bars. You should make sure your framer is familiar with stretching Canvas Giclees. Canvas Giclees should never be stretched to the same tension as a blank canvas to be painted on. Even though the canvas is water-resistant do not spray the back of the canvas with a mist of water to encourage tension. Framed properly there is no need to do so. Once stretched over a wood frame, it is important that no pressure come in contact with the stretched canvas. Sharp objects can cut the canvas and blunt objects can leave a dent in the canvas.Although the richness of the colors and the perceived texture of some prints will tempt the viewer to feel it, DON’T. Even though the print may have a UV seal covering it, one should never touch the surface because all humans have oil in their skin. That oil is either slightly acid or base. Both are harmful to the finish if there is enough build up. This can happen in two ways. The oils in the skin will build up where the print is touched and dirt will start to collect on those areas, or the acid or base properties of the oil will start to eat at the UV coating and then the print underneath. Back to top |
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