Colour Your Worlde

Multi-paneled displays and print clusters are a creative way to present your art, and cover a larger wall area.

The most common form of multi-paneled displays are triptychs - three panels that are hung in succession. Using one image broken up in to three pieces creates a unique effect. This look works well with pieces that are free floating and not matted and framed. The images being flush to the edge help unify the panels as one installation and your eye will fill in the negative space between each panel. Canvas gallery wraps, direct to board, and flush mounted prints work well for this type of presentation. The image seen here is designed to emulate the view out of a rocket ship window for a space themed kid's bedroom.






Of course, there is no rule that says there should always be three panels. A row of five images or square grid of four or even nine can make a dramatic impression.

Print clusters are another take on multi-paneled displays. This is where you use different sized images arranged together in a cluster grouping. For this type of display different images can be used that have a continuity or theme; like black and white prints, family photos, or a grouping of images that will accent the room. One way to add extra interest in this type of display is to hang the prints at different depths and overlapping each other. The added depth makes the pieces start to take on a sculptural feel.

Make a multi-paneled display the focal point of your room.

When film ruled the photographic world a 4x5 transparency was the best option for an artist looking to reproduce their artwork. The 21st Century equivalent is a high end digital back that can produce a file with the same resolution previously only found in large format sheet film. With technology ever changing and improving, soon the capabilities of the newest digital backs will surpass what film could capture in one exposure. When stitching multiple frames together, like the project seen here, digital files have already reached that level.

Digital Output magazine chronicled the partnership of Kyoto Cultural Association (KCA) with Canon and their use of digital capture to reproduce a 17th Century piece Viewing Cherry Blossoms at Ueno Park by Hishikawa Moronbu. The each panel of the six panel piece was captured segmented into several units, with each part exposed three times in RAW. They estimated it took 15 to 20 minutes per panel to photograph. The final images were then stitched together using proprietary software.

Before they printed their final piece several proofs were produced and held up to the original for matching. Much like our process here when reproducing original art, the color matching relied on the expertise of their staff - "Despite all of the technology available, this final stage still relied on the human eye". The reproduction was printed on Washi paper specifically designed for the project and then finished with gold leaf to replicate the original as close as possible. The duplicate was produced to be displayed at the Freer Gallery in the Smithsonian Institution in and effort to expose a wider audience to Japanese art.

We use a similar process when we reproducing original art. Many of our customers are looking to replicate an hand crafted painting in a giclee canvas print. We can also take the same digital capture of their artwork and apply it to new applications like printing to fabric, metallic photo paper, or printing directly to tile.

Many artists have learned the advantages of reproducing their art by printing on to canvas, commonly called giclée printing. What is giclée printing? Giclée (pronounced “zhee-klay”) is a French word that means “to spray or spurt liquid.” One distinction between giclée printing and using any old ink-jet printer to print on to canvas is that giclée prints are created using professional 8-Color to 12-Color ink-jet printers. The technology of a professional printer sprays incredibly small pixels of rich, vibrant archival inks onto the canvas at a very high rate of speed. This system produces amazingly smooth and vibrant images true to the colors of the original painting with such precision that no dots, blurs or lines are discernible to the eye.

There is a multi-stepped process that goes in to creating a quality giclée print or art reproduction on canvas. First, the image is digitized, either by a scan or a high resolution photo capture. The image file is analyzed for color balance, contrast, brightness, and any scratches or dust specks are removed using imaging software, like Photoshop. Before printing the final product, the image is proofed. Test strips are run to ensure color accuracy and see if any additional corrections need to be made. When satisfied with the proof, the final giclee art prints are sized and printed. The final print is coated with a liquid UV protective laminate and often finished by stretching around a wooden frame to give the appearance of an original painting.

Giclée art reproductions are a great option for artists and photographers who would like to mass produce their work, but print only as needed, or on-demand. Once an image is digitally archived, an infinite number of additional giclée reproductions can be made with minimal effort and will appear the same as the original giclée produced.

To learn how Artisan Colour can print your artwork on to canvas visit our website.

Posted via email from Artisan Colour