Canvas Giclee Art Reproduction Stretching & Finishing : Canvas Giclee Art Reproduction Samples
oil painting over giclee?
I am an artist who is just starting to play with the Giclee process.
Basically my art is reproduced by spraying ink from an Epson 9800 printer onto Premier art water resistant pre-coated canvas. So far so good. Here’s my dilemma. In order to get the effect I want I am oil painting right on top of the Giclee.
I love the process, its fast and furious with some spectacular results. However, I am not sure about the compatibility of the oil paints and solvents on the pre-coated canvas. Will my added work eat through the material?? I am just doing it, however, I live with the fear of unknown reactions.
I have spoken to the people who are doing the printing and they are hopeful I can add insight to their limited knowledge. I have a call into Premier tech. support. I always feel good getting information from more then one source.
I am sure someone else has had similar ideas and gone before me. I would greatly appreciate any insights
At our framing shop we’ve been working with customers’ giclees for years. We’ve found that the ink does not penetrate the canvas to any extent and tends to rub off if abraded… to me, this means that any paint applied on top of the ink will not adhere to the substrate. In effect, you are painting on a thin coat of ink that can be scratched off with a fingernail.
Our local printer is now using a final varnish coat, and it does make the surface more durable but not invincible. I don’t know the chemistry of the final coat – if it’s solvent-based, then you could have trouble if you use solvents in your paint. Also, if it’s an impermeable varnish, then your oil paints won’t adhere properly to that because oil paint needs to hold on to a rough surface. The result may be peeling & cracking, which you may not notice until the paint completely cures.
We’ve seen giclees that have been over-painted using acrylics – and this seems to be a better choice since the water-based acrylic permeates the inks somewhat and helps with adhesion.
We do have one customer who is retouching her giclees with alkyd-based oils, but it’s too soon yet to know what the long term results will be. As far as I’m concerned, the jury is still out on applying oils to giclees. Based on my experience and knowledge, my vote goes to acrylics.
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