What is an Iris Giclée?

 It’s the next best thing to owning the original.

       The word giclée is a French word (pronounced: Zhee-clay) that means to spray ink.  The Iris printer has been in existence for quite a while.  Printers have used it to produce quick and accurate proofs, but today’s Iris Giclée prints differ remarkably from a standard Iris print.  The main difference is in the inks and papers that are used.  The new technology developed for the Iris Giclée has produced an archival ink that is water based, organic, and designed to last.  These archival inks are sprayed on 100% rag watercolor paper to produce museum quality prints that truly rival the original artwork. 

Yellow Flags Unfurled is printed on 140lb Arches watercolor paper and First Rays of Morning Light is printed on Somerset Velvet.  These Iris Giclée print collages are already matted in white archival rag mats.  What you see is actually a double print.  One is matted normally; the second is cut, retouched with watercolors and collaged to the first print out over an archival white mat.   Luminous irises literally grow out of the picture plane over the mat in a technique that is part trompe-l’oeil, part actual 3-D.  These unique IRIS giclée/collage prints are each offered in a signed and numbered edition of 250.  They have not been coated, so please protect them from moisture and humidity.  They should be framed with glass and displayed out of direct sunlight just as you would treat an original watercolor.