Glossary of Terms

A "user-friendly" guide for all your fine art possiblilites

With all the new print offerings, it can sometimes be difficult to understand how one kind of print differs from another, and to feel confident about selecting one. As the pubisher, we have compiled the following guide to help you better understand the printing techniques that we choose to best replicate original paintings.

A fine art ink-jet print is as delicate as an original watercolor; please treat it as such. In addition to the general guidelines above, please consider the following:

Be careful not to touch the surface of the image or let any liquid whatsoever come into contact with it. If you must handle the print, protect the areas to be touched with folded pieces of acid-free tissue. Support the long sides of the print with both hands.

Preparing your print for exhibition, matting, framing, shipping, or storage should be done by experienced persons only.

Avoid direct sunlight, reflected light and fluorescent light when displaying your ink-jet print, and consider rotating the print into storage on a three-month cycle.

Look for classic quality and consistent beauty in all our offset lithographic prints. This process affordably allows more people to own and enjoy a single work of art on paper than the original painting would.

• Offset lithography is a photographic printing technique that uses inks, carried by rubber rollers called printing blankets, to transfer images from metal plates to paper.
• Not all prints are alike, however, even at the same price. Our inks and archival paper are specially made to our exacting specifications.
• While the industry standard for offset lithographic prints is often only four colors, we routinely create fine art prints in as many as ten different colors, resulting in unmatched clarity and color fidelity to the original.

Whichever work of art you choose, each offers its own unique qualities, and all offer you the pride and pleasure of owning a superlative work of art that might not otherwise be available. At The Linda Hartough Gallery, we will always choose the paintmaking technique that best suits the original.

These are created by offset lithographic printing directly on canvas, as opposed to on paper.

• Our inks are specially adjusted for this technique, and the canvas we use has many of the same characteristics as the canvas that artists paint on.
• A Linda Hartough canvas print has the authentic look of a more expensive original painting and, like the original, is framed without glass.

This unique and valuable technique replicates the look and feel of an original painting, including canvas texture and artist's brush strokes.

• The image is first printed by offset lithography with oil-based inks on a thin piece of oil-based material.
• A mold of the original painting can be used as a guide to creat a feeling of brush strokes on the canvas, or the artist can re-create the brush strokes him or herself.
• The mold is used with heat and pressure to bond the printed image to artist-quality canvas.
• The resulting fine art print captures the texture as well as the image of the original and is framed without glass.
• Published on a very selective basis and usually in much more exclusive editions, textured canvas prints have many of the popular attributes of an original.

Also commonly known as silk-screening, serigraphy is a time-honored technique, based on stenciling, for creating prints by hand.

• Ink or paint is carefully brushed through a fine fabric screen, portions of which have been masked for impermeability.
• For each color, a different portion of the screen must be masked, and each color must be allowed to dry before the next is applied.
• Like Linda Hartough fine art lithographs, our fine art serigraphs are created from an original painting, and the artist can see and adjust the evolution of the colors through many proofing stages.
• This exacting process can use more than 100 hand-applied colors. The depth of color is almost luminous.

Acid Free: A descriptive term for specially made materials -- used for the print itself or in the framing process -- that are free of acids, which can cause discoloration and deterioration of a print.

Certificate of Authenticity: A statement of the authenticity of a limited edition. Documentation includes edition size and artist's proofs, title of work, artist's name, and date of release. Also known as a "warranty card," this document guarantees that the edition is indeed limited and that the image will not be published again as a fine art print.

Conservation Framing: The method of framing a print in such a way that the print remains undamaged, in its original condition. This is accomplished through the use of special high-quality components, including acid-free materials, to protect the work of art from deterioration, fading and wear.

Countersignature: On a limited editon, the signature of someone in addition to the artist, often adding historical value to the work of art.

Edition, Limited: A fixed number of identical prints of an images, signed by the artist, sequentially numbered, and showing both the print's number and the total edition size. Each print is referred to as a "limited edition print."

Edition, Open: Identical prints of an images, which are signed by the artist and published in unlimited number.

Proof, Artist's (AP): Additional prints not included in the regular limited edition, produced for the printer's consideration and approval.

Proof, Printer's: A small number of additional prints not included in the regular limited edition, produced for the printer's consideration and approval.

Proof of Copyright Registration: One or two prints, produced in addition to the limited edition, which are sent by the publisher to the government agency responsible for copyright protection in the coutry in which the print is published.

Remarque: An original or printed drawing or marking made by the artist, usually in the margin of a limited edition print or on a small separate sheet of paper that accompanies the limited edition print. A remarque, especially if original, can add substantially to the value of a limited edition print.

Secondary Market: An unofficial network of dealers and individuals where the buying and selling of fine art prints takes place.