An exclusive subset of any given release traditionally reserved for use by the artist and publisher. Collectors give greater value to A/Ps, as they are often difficult to obtain. These are signed and numbered separately from the edition. The letters AP can be found written beside the numbers for example A/P 12/20.
Canvas transfers has become a generic term that is not the standard by which limited edition fine art canvases should be referred. Most transfers are a chemical process by which inks are lifted from the original medium (usually paper) to another (canvas). Most inks, papers, and printing processes were not designed for this use so there can be a breakdown in color. This process affordably allows more people to own and enjoy a work of art than the original painting would.
The edition size is the number of reproductions that total a given print or canvas release. There are 2 numbers on a limited edition-for example 157/200. The number on the bottom (200) refers to the total number of reproductions in the edition. The number above (157) is the number of the individual print.
A giclee (zhee-clay) is an elegant, state-of-the-art reproduction that gives a vibrant color rendition of an original painting. Giclee, a French printmakers term for sprayed, was adopted to distinguish the technique from ordinary offset printing. It also signifies to the art buyer that the process and materials used to create the print were intended for the fine art market. A giclee is created by a digital printers tiny ink jets that spray millions of droplets of archival, water-based inks onto fine archival art paper or canvas known as the substrate. The combination of specific inks and substrate are carefully selected to assure maximum print longevity. Giclees are produced one at a time. Depending upon their size, this intricate printing process can take up to an hour or more for each print. Afterward, the giclees are coated with a protective finish. Whether printed on fine art paper or canvas, the end result is always the same: a beautifully reproduced work of art with the look and feel of the original painting.
Some paper or canvas editions include brushstrokes done by hand by the artist. These additions enhance both the look and value of the work.
Lithography owes it existence to the chemical principal that oil and water do not mix. The artist draws the image to be printed on a flat slab of limestone, metal, or plastic using a greasy crayon. The surface is then chemically fixed and wet with water, which does not adhere to the greasy image areas. When the surface is inked with a roller, ink adheres only to the greasy areas and not the wet area. Paper or Canvas is then positioned over the plate and the press is manually operated to produce one impression. The process must be repeated for each color. It is not unusual for fine lithographs to be printed from 15 or more plates.
Offset lithography is a photographic printing technique that uses inks, carried by rubber rollers called printing blankets, to transfer images from metal plates to paper. Not all prints are alike, however, even at the same price. While the industry for offset lithograph prints is often only four colors, Greenwich Workshop fine art prints (for example) print in as many as eighteen different colors, resulting in unmatched clarity and color fidelity to the original. This process affordably allows more people to own and enjoy a work of art than the original painting would.
Original Stone Lithograph
This is an age old technique in which an image is drawn on a stone by the artist (in reverse) and then pressed by hand, one color at a time, onto paper or canvas. Each lithograph is considered an original because the image is created during the process, thus no two are exactly the same.
The exacting serigraph process (also knows as silk-screening) is a time honored hand printing technique, based on stenciling, Ink or paint is carefully brushed through a fine fabric screen, portions of which have been masked for impermeability. For each color, a different portion of the screen must be masked, and each color must be allowed to dry before the next is applied. The depth of color in the resulting fine art serigraph is almost luminous.
Each fine art limited edition is signed by the artist, certifying their inspection and approval, then numbered.
Textured canvas prints such as Howard Terpning’s Opening the Sacred Bundleare published on a very selective basis. This unique and valuable technique replicates the look and feel of an original painting, including canvas texture and, at times, artist’s brush strokes. The image is first printed by offset lithography with oil-based inks on a thin piece of oil-based material. A mold of the original painting can be used as a guide to create a feeling of brush strokes, or the artist can re-create the brush strokes. The mold is used with heat and pressure to bond the printed image to the artist-quality canvas. The resulting fine art print captures the texture as well as the image of the original and is framed without glass. Fine Art Canvas Art printed directly onto canvas material. Some canvas art comes already stretched. Larger canvas art will be delivered in a rolled form.
