What is a Giclee?

A Giclee (pronounced Zhee-Clay) is a very high end digitally produced archival quality print. Giclees are printed on archival substrates, such as Arches Cold Press watercolor papers, Somerset watercolor papers or specially prepared canvases, with archival, light fast inks, at a very high resolution. Depending on the medium of the original work, giclees are printed on paper or canvas. Watercolor paintings render very well on the watercolor papers, and oil paintings printed as canvas giclees have the rich tonal quality of original oil paintings. Canvas giclees are also coated with a special finishing media to protect the surface. Canvas giclees are stretched and framed as one would display an original oil painting. Watercolor giclees are typically framed behind glass, as one would do with an original watercolor painting.