Epson Velvet Fine Art Paper
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The paper is very thick with a matte, toothy texture. The inks used are genuine Epson Ultrachrome inks that have superior scratch, water and fade resistance. If you plan to display your piece in a sunny location, a print may be better than an original because sunlight tends to fade watercolor paints. The ink jet application of these inks onto archival paper creates a very durable print because the paper fibers are saturated with wet ink. This is different than a laser print, which has toner powder that is applied onto the surface of the paper.
What is a Giclee?
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These prints can be considered "Giclée" prints. Giclée simply means ink jet, but has an association of high quality and collectability.
How are the prints made?
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I scan my original paintings on a high resolution scanner that has very good depth of color. For big pieces, I need to make between 4 to 8 scans in order to "stitch" them together. Because the watercolor paper is often warped, the edges of these scans sometimes have troublesome meeting points, so I open these in CorelDraw. This graphics program allows me to stretch, skew, and rotate the images to a great deal of precision, and also allows me to alter the border so that the "seam" can naturally follow elements in the painting. For example, I might put the seam along a horizon line, or along the trunk of a tree.
I then export this collage of images into one, final bitmap which I open in Photoshop. I color correct the image so that the print closely matches the original.
Final touches
My favorite color correcting tools are:
Selective Color (great for whitening up the whites without losing subtle tones)
Replace color (essential for some blues and purples)
Match Color: increase luminosity
I run many color proofs (sometimes as many as 20 or more). I will often crop the image to fit a standard size, so if you would like a size that you don't see listed, please let me know. Since these are printed to order, I can most likely accommodate your request. Also, since I keep high resolution files, I can often print larger.
Ask me about a canvas, wood, or aluminum print!
Canvas, wood, or aluminum is an economical way to print large. The biggest expense of hanging a print up in the house is the framing: the archival mounting, conservation glass, and custom frame all add up. A canvas, wood, or aluminum print comes ready to hang (and it's much lighter-weight) and you don't have to worry about those additional framing details. Please let me know if that is something you would like quoted.
