Lately, I have been experimenting with using 140 lb watercolor paper and inkjet canvas with my Epson Stylus Photo 1400 printer. I can create gorgeous fine art print artwork in exactly a perfect 12″ x 12″ square among other shapes and sizes. This is one of the paintings I printed as a fine art print on watercolor paper and it turned out excellently terrific 
The colors are soft and glowing and look like a mixture of watercolors and oils … I could never have achieved that look with either watercolors or oils on the watercolor paper … this was a digital painting and each print is a unique “original” depending on the paper and the paper finish. Gloss or Matte or Satin Photo Paper makes very different prints than watercolor paper or canvas … I tried canvas prints too because I wanted to see the difference … each is marvelous and then I can go a step further and add embellishments to the fine art print.
I have been practicing on some other prints … not this one yet … I have not decided what I want to highlight yet .. this painting just feels … perfect … to me as it is so far … I like it exactly as it turns out on the different print surfaces … watercolor paper to canvas to photo paper … canvas and watercolor paper add texture that is not there in the painting itself …. and that is exactly how I used to paint in oils … I omitted texture and blended the paint colors til it was smooth as silk because I liked the subtle color blending that occurs … and yet when painting in oils … the canvas texture would always be there to give it just a touch or hint of texture which for me was just right.
Posted under General Interest
This post was written by Barbara Burns on April 10, 2009
