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What IS Giclee’? It has been commonly spoken in the art world for over a decade, but remains a mystery to most people outside of the art profession. Giclee is simply a term created for high quality fine art digital prints run on ink-jet printers. The word is based on the French term for “nozzle” or “to spray”. “Giclee’” has taken the stigma off of “prints” by raising the quality level of reproductions to that of a lithograph without the intensive labor.

As large format high resolution printers have been adapted with archival pigment inks and museum quality canvas, artists are offered a much more flexible format to reproduce their artwork. The “set-up” in a computer allows freedom in the adjustments to the image and number of prints made, unlike traditional screen printing where a separate silk screen is created for every color used to create a print. This lengthy and costly process is the same for one or one thousand prints, making it only cost effective to run large quantities of one limited edition, and impossible to have any variation from the original image.

Typically giclee prints are also exact reproductions of the original painting, however, computer programs  offer unlimited applications to transform or alter an image into several ‘re-creations’ of itself. Through the execution of the digital master and printer, Don Seymour at Orca, I have redesigned several original paintings to help illustrate the concept of custom designing an existing artwork. The alterations are both computer enhanced and hand applied embellishments creating truly original individually signed pieces of art.

I have coupled these new unique pieces with their original counterparts in a show that is now hanging in it’s first venue in Novato, California at the Aurora Ristorante Italiano. Each altered giclee’ demonstrates different applications to consider when exploring the possibilities of custom creating a design specifically to suit your taste. Though my re-creations are just a small sampling of variations, my intention is to spark the imagination of the viewer to have other ideas of seeing the art in different ways. With endless graphic techniques and layering of paints, plasters, and metal leaf, the possibilities for Digital Recreation are limitless and makes custom created art available to suit any personality or atmosphere.

These giclees are available through my online store in an assortment of sizes, but if viewing those available stirs a desire for a new design, please contact Teri directly to collaborate on a custom re-creation.

In December I was honored with the task of immortalizing a precious moment in time that had been captured on video which produced only a low quality photographic image. Under normal circumstances this capture might have been left for satisfactory video viewing, but when it suddenly became a final memory, the documentation needed greater consideration.

The subject of the painting was Virginia, mother of my surrogate family since moving to California in 1988. Virginia recently had battled cancer and won. With hair restored and a future to celebrate, she went to her husband’s birthday party where SHE actually got the surprise ~ the unexpected arrival of all of her children. The image is of that surprised and joyful expression as they came through the door.

After that exuberant day, and with no issues or warnings, Virginia died in her sleep that night.

The ‘photo’ came to me 2 years later after the attempts to have it digitally remastered failed. The siblings wanted an enlargement for their father for Christmas. I was, as I said, honored to be trusted with such a special gift, and petrified of the need for perfection in the portrayal. I knew Virginia, so I felt like I could see through the pixilated imperfections of the picture, but I found that the blurred dots eliminated the subtle characteristics that made Virginia recognizably Virginia, and I struggled through trial and error lines and shadows.

I called in her daughter, Kate, with more knowledgeable eyes than mine, and together we added and eliminated details until we’d exhausted all visible options and had no idea what defining traits were missing. She had to leave because (to make things even more emotional) it was Virginia’s birthday. I sat and closed my swollen eyes and asked Virginia to come to me and guide my hand to reveal her distinctive features. I felt her. An overwhelming sadness and disappointment I didn’t expect from this matriarch of the largest and most diverse extended families I have ever encountered. Acceptance is what had always impressed me about her~ a calm acceptance. She had been robbed of the recovery she was promised and had earned, and maybe she was letting me know so that I would keep fighting to bring her forth on this canvas.

If so, it worked, and with my smallest brush and magnified glasses I scanned over every minute detail of the photo against the canvas making adjustments. It was time to stop, and I was as satisfied as I was going to be with what I had. I had to leave it to be framed without a final approval.

Weeks after the holidays I hadn’t heard anything about how the painting was received. I reluctantly called Kate, and she said, “Have you not seen the video on Facebook? I want you to see it framed at my dad’s.”

So we went over, and it was hung in the entry between 2 of her quilt pieces, and again, I was so honored to have been a part of this gift. Her dad expressed his gratitude, but the video from Christmas morning was all that I needed to erase the struggle and doubt, and made this one of the most rewarding challenges that I have ever faced.

I’ve always been particularly interested in faces as the subjects of my artwork. The first drawing that I remember giving me that sense of being an artist was of my baby sister (the cutest baby EVER!) when I was about eleven. And though she was super cute, Scott Baio soon became even cuter to me, a love struck pre-teen.

I spent most of my days after school trying to perfect a drawing of him fit to send to his fan club and certainly win his heart. I never heard from him, but that didn’t stop me from drawing more faces. In college I tried my hand at painting people. My mom’s friend still houses my first attempt from a photograph of her, her husband, and my mom with their big cheesy grins at the Fair. My instructor said it wasn’t real enough to be realism, but not intentional enough to not look like it wasn’t trying to be ~ they’ve been amused by it anyway.

That still didn’t dissuade me from tackling the challenges of painting a recognizable human; I just went up to the print room to pursue it in a different medium. After my first trip to New York City, I came back inspired by the highly stylized ads in the papers and magazine on the streets, and attempted screen printing. It was a bit more forgiving as it is more of blocked process and precise shadowing is not an option (unless you are a master pulling 40 color passes!) It taught me the strength of the outline.

I even went so far as to mold my own face to make a series of clay masks in ceramics class (see below) ~ I guess I really have been slightly obsessed. I’ve continued to work out my issues with the idiosyncrasies of the face. Struggling to make noses not look like an odd protrusion from the middle of otherwise soft attractive features, and creating two eyes of perfect symmetrical proportion. Now working with acrylic glazes that give me more control over gradual shading, I can build up layers of color that realistically create the blend of pigments that make up skin.

The translucency creates a luminescence that gives a glow to the flesh that makes it appear round and alive, but the likeness of my portraits are only half of my goal. My ultimate desire is to capture the essence and the passion of the people that I bring to life on canvas. Getting to know about the person and getting in touch with them through meditation helps something more than just paint come through my brush. I feel the energy of the person connect with me, which can be a very emotional experience. Sometimes my visions surprise me, but they seem to express an accurate representation of my subjects.

As a bonus, I document the progression of the painting process through pictures and video. Unless otherwise requested, the pictures will be posted daily and the client can follow the unfolding of the composition.

Upon completion, the video segments will be spliced together to reveal the techniques used and the choices that were made throughout the painting’s creation.

More information on portrait services can be found in the Custom Portrait and Digital Recreation sections and contact Teri directly for personal possiblilties.

Clients dilemma: Slate or concrete in the entry?

He already had a concrete floor (painted black that had worn and chipped off), that in the kitchen area I was topping with a black E-crete finish. (see E-crete section for details). His ideal was black slate on the stairs and raised entry, but had gotten a pricey bid, and the thickness of the stones definitely posed issues for the steps and the doorway which was flush to the existing floor. I had done ‘slate-like’ finishes with E-crete, and individual stones with E-rock, so why not sculpt slate stones?? I could regulate the thickness to account for doors and steps, and still give him the look he was desiring. He bought it! Now I had to produce! There were no illusions about it being quick or easy. Slate is slate,and concrete, well, is a runny white paste that can be tinted to a degree, layered,and stained; but how close can it come to the real thing? He wanted the REAL THING!

I began by floating the whole floor with a light gray layer of E-rock ( to create the ‘grout’ and level his original floor). Then I used a bit darker gray E-rock to build the stones; troweling ridges and pits and irregular edges.

Once I had my layout, I got more creative with blending different color batches of E-crete to add the color variation to the stones. I mixed a darker gray, gold, sienna, and a gray/green and worked them together.

Then came staining day. The day that would reveal if my progression-in-theory would actually resemble slate at all. I filled in the pits with a black pigment wash to get some dark black recesses, and then brushed on stains of raw umber/black, burnt sienna , and yellow ochre mixes. When I got the first one done, I began to giggle. I did the second, and could hardly contain my excitement. Ed (my client and now good buddy) heard my elation,came in and said,”You are pleased?” I said, “Yes!” And so was he.

After the initial joy of succeeding, the rest was a grueling, Cinderella on her hands and knees workout until the last stone was done. The finishing sealer gave a glistening richness to the colors, and to my heart as I took in the ‘better than expected’ results of my meticulous efforts.

Now he wants it on the outdoor patio :)