A.D. Cook Fine Art - About Our Prints

About Our Prints

Our Giclée prints on watercolor paper and canvas are created using a large-format, high-resolution inkjet printer. We use a wide-gamut pigmented ink set which produces highly archival prints with a projected life span of over 135 years under gallery display conditions, have remarkably vivid and saturated color.

About Giclée Prints

Giclée (pronounced "zhee-clay") is a French word meaning "to squirt or spurt." The Giclée printer squirts approximately four million microscopic droplets of ink per second onto 100% cotton fiber paper or other media utilizing a six-color process. The range and resolution of the 6 color process is superior to other methods of art reproduction including lithography which only utilizes four colors.

Displaying a full color spectrum, Giclée prints capture every nuance of an original painting - be it watercolor, oil or acrylic and have gained wide acceptance from major institutions like the Chicago Art Institute and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The artist and printer work with a digital file of the painting to reproduce it as accurate as possible. The support material, such as paper or canvas is carefully attached to a spinning drum while tiny small pixels of rich, vibrant archival inks are sprayed at a very high speed. This renders an amazingly smooth and consistent image; a museum quality fine art reproduction. In many cases, a special UV agent is applied that provides an invisible top coat. It will not yellow and resists cracking.

Each painting is inspected and goes through several quality control checks before the artist gives his final approval and signs the Certificate of Authenticity. Because no screens are used, the prints have a higher apparent resolution than lithographs. The dynamic color range is like serigraphy. The effect is similar to an airbrush technique. Unlike lithographs and serigraphs, Giclées have undergone extensive, third-party fade-testing. While the predicted display life depends on many variables, under typical home or office lighting, and depending on the papers used, Giclées made with wide-gamut pigmented inks are estimated to last over 130 years without noticeable fade. Testing information comes from independent testing labs and the manufacturers of the materials we use.

We recommend that you treat your Giclée prints the same as any original painting. They should be framed and mounted behind glass, protected from moisture, and displayed away from direct sunlight.

Print Specifics

The sizes listed refer to the size of the trimmed print, including borders. Different images will have different "aspect ratios" (the proportion of width to height). Therefore, printed image dimensions will vary. We will print the image as large as possible within minimum borders. For photo prints and Strathmore paper prints, the minimum border dimension is one half inch. For Giclée prints on canvas, paper and watercolor paper, the minimum border is one inch.

Digital prints may vary somewhat in color, depending on the output device used.

We accept payment by credit cards via Pay Pal. Please allow 7 to 10 days for delivery. All prints are shipped rolled and in heavy shipping tubes.

As with all art prints, proper framing behind glass is recommended for display, and exposure to sunlight should be avoided.

Prices do not include framing, mounting, stretching or shipping. Certain sizes and media may require up to one week to print.

For information about our returns policy, please click here.

If you'd like to be informed when new prints are available you can join our email list on the Stay Informed page.

A.D. Cook Fine Art Studios — Las Vegas, Nevada USA — (702) 875-5676