GICLEE PRINTS – AFFORDABLE ART FORM

The word giclee has its roots in French which actually means “to spray”. Simply put, giclee could be defined as the process of recreating original art work, or computer generated art work or even scanned photographs, only one print at a time, with the help of digital technology using high quality large format inkjet printers. Giclee has become a rage in the field of reproduction of original two dimensional art work using oil, pastel, ink or acrylics. It has earned so much popularity that even high profile artists swear by its clarity, quality and durability - which is unlikely to fade even in another 100 years - to such an extent that the reproduced version looks even better than the original work of art.

Giclee prints can be had on any print medium that is water color paper, photo paper or fine cotton stretchable canvas. Once the required image is printed, the reproduced giclee print is carefully hand-trimmed and set ready for framing, which can then be encased in conventional wooden frames. Photographic and water color giclee prints are normally preferred with glass frames.

One down side of giclee print though, happens to be hat it is costlier than normal offset prints when you calculate on per print basis. But the beauty here is that with giclee printing, the original painting comes out exceptionally well on a canvas media and will last for years. Photographs or water color art reproduction could be had on the respective media that is photo paper or watercolor paper. Once you have giclee art print ready, you may add your imagination on to it by painting over certain areas of the art work to bring out your own uniqueness to the finished product.

An opportunity to showcase talent

In the month of March itself, three enthralling exhibits are up for public viewing at the Community Arts center. Boyle County High School students will be displaying their talent in pottery at Lockhart Gallery. An array of oil paintings by Community Arts Center’s residential artist David Farmer will be displayed in the Grand Hall. Marianna McDonald of Lexington will be presenting her “Landscapes in Pastels” at the Farmer National Bank Gallery. This should be a real treat for art lovers.

David Farmer’s show will be called “Trees” and will be featuring a series of arboreal presentations and will be in many sizes and prices. The works will show the love the artist has for natural forests and landscapes. According to him, he trees present a great challenge, are extremely fascinating owing to their colors, textures and natural beauty that vary with seasons and climates and he loves to capture them on canvas. The way he has been to capture his experience of nature especially forest beauty on to the canvas is amazing. The giclee representations of his great art work are up for viewing and sale too for art loving visitors.

Marianna McDonald of Lexington is famous for her work with soft pastels and she too excels in landscape paintings. According to her, an artist should bring to life on canvas, what he or she knows and loves the best. She is an associate member of the Pastel Society of America and has displayed her art work in Kentucky, New York and on the West Coast too. Giclee prints of her work is available for purchase by the public throughout the month.

Giclee Prints

When looking for art for your home or business you have many options to choose form. One very popular for of art you can go with is a giclee. Many art studios will give you two options to choose from when you are looking for a painting. One option is to go with an original work. There are several drawbacks to this option including the fact that it can be difficult to find exactly what you are looking for and when you do find something it can be quite costly. A perfect alternative is the giclee. A giclee is a very high quality reproduction of the original made using a high quality inkjet printer. With a giclee you can sort through a digital library of images and find one that you like. This digital image will then be reproduced on a canvas and you will have the flexibility to custom frame it. This has not only the benefit of giving you a much broader choice of works but it also benefits from being very cost effective. In addition, these works are extremely high quality and look very similar to the originals thanks to the incredible quality of a modern giclee printer.