Giclee???

Original Painting on Canvas

"Selenium Moonlight on the Great Divide, Elkford"  -(yet to be reprinted "Giclee" on canvas and finished in detailed acrylics). - Painting photographed and edited with Silver Efx Pro - 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Damned POPSICLES!!!

So I've been fascinated with the whole painting on canvas/photography thing and figured why not make a go of it selling the damned things. Maybe online..maybe even one day on display someplace that's even remotely like a gallery... how cool would that be!!??? Great way to distract me from my burn out in the studio scenario, get reacquainted with my art background and distract me from the ongoing battle with my health.

So I start doing some research on how I'm going to make it work logistically. First I paint a canvas with acrylics then photograph the painting and run it thru a photoshop program, to pimp it just right, and then send it off to a lab to have it printed back on canvas and then finally finish it off with painted gel medium highlights and varnish. Probably the most expensive way to get your creativity to sell but hey, the allure of a gallery showing is an all time dream!!!

I really want to stay working with photography, I've got everything already in place for marketing purposes and the company/reputation is long established why not overlap the two? The more I research the process, the more I'm perplexed.

Is it art or is it photography? How do I pitch it, or even explain it in short form? Is it really considered mixed medium in the art world, if so great, but does the photo industry really recognize it as a photograph in the end?

I'm curious to see who's gonna bite the line first!! With my luck, I'll loose my lure in the thick under growth of the politics of it all. The chicken or the egg? Shoot the photo first as a canvas then paint it?

With all this swirling in my head I google the word Giclee. Its a printing process that is considered the best way to reproduce and preserve artwork and photographs. I've known about it for a few years now but have never really ventured into the exact explanation of the process and why one would choose it. It still confuses me.

As an artist I can understand why you would choose this type of reproduction, maybe even if it is just a way of having the best quality of your work on record so that when it sells you still have a portfolio of your work. But as a photographer, I've been stumped.

If I already have a large digital file of my image why the hell would I want to jump thru the hoops to get it "Sprayed" onto a surface when I can get a very good quality print made with the image tack sharp on  high quality archival photo paper?

Most photographs I've seen that have been "Giclee'd" have been reproduced onto a canvas and they look like crap because it is just not tack sharp. A canvas is a pretty robust surface, why are you investing in a camera lens and mechanics to get your image in detailed focus? And get this- if you have a painting that is bigger than a certain size they can not reproduce it - the "scanner" is not large enough so the painting has to be photographed in order to have a digital file made!! WTF??

Makes no sense as a photog, but as far as the art gallery community is concerned, its not art until its printed "Giclee" I cant even pronounce the damned word let alone understand the logic of it!! The word looks/sounds like a fancy kinda Popsicle!! Every time I see the word all I can think of is Popsicleeeee!!
I guess I'm just gonna have to jump in and wrestle with it. A kind of "paint/shoot first, ask questions later" kinda mentality is needed perhaps?? Popsicle's anyone??