Why Palette Arts?

Please take a moment and let us introduce ourselves to you as Palette Arts. We are a giclee’ reproduction company whose primary focus is serving artists. We have been reproducing original fine art on the Central California Coast for the past five years, have scanned over 8,000 art images, and have built our client base to over four hundred artists including many well known favorites.

What is a giclee’ reproduction? The most advanced & perfected technology in the world today for fine art reproduction is the giclée printing method. Giclée, pronounced (zhee-clay), is a French term meaning “spray of ink”. Giclée prints have been shown in museums and galleries throughout the world, and is quickly becoming the industry standard.

How does Palette Arts make a giclee’ reproduction? Creating a giclée print requires the utmost care and attention on the part of the publisher. The original painting is first professionally photographed in a specially designed studio in full spectrum lighting, with high resolution 4 x 5 digital scan back camera, with the highest quality optic apo chromatic lens possible for fine art image capture, and a digital image is created. That image is sent to a series of computers, where we will color correct the image through the graphic publishing design programs to match the original painting. This is probably the most difficult part of the process, and the part where most competitors fail. The image will then be sized and relayed to a six color, large format printer. Our printer will make a reproduction up to 44 inches by 40 feet long, in either archival watercolor paper or canvas. The printer produces the image by delivering a fine spray of ink, up to a million micro droplets per second. The display of a full color spectrum allows for the portrayal of the finest detail and vibrancy of the artist’s original image and maximum resolution of color density. Our mediums have been laboratory tested to withstand at least 150 years of normal atmospheric changing conditions. If desired, the canvas giclee’ reproductions will then be stretched on custom made frames, then gel coated. Palette Arts is pleased to offer you museum quality giclée prints at an affordable price. Every giclée reproduction is accompanied by a personalized certificate of authenticity, that reflects the quality, style, clarity and color correctness of the reproduction.
Palette Arts uses the highest quality materials and mediums available today, and has invested over $150,000 in state of the art equipment to assure our clients get the very best technical advantage.

What are the credentials of Palette Arts? Palette Arts was founded by Les Blevins, an admirer of the fine arts and husband to well known artist Linda Barbara Blevins. In addition to a successful business/management background, Les has over twenty three years of technical and creative credentials in printing, computer science, and photography – the three areas of expertise that are absolutely necessary to produce high quality fine art reproductions. Les began his career as a printer, serving in the industry originally for fourteen years, with the final four years as the division manager. Blevins then went on to the computer industry; building computers and custom systems, networking, designing websites, conducting software training, and as a professional graphic designer. And finally, Les’ lifelong hobby of photography has proven invaluable. He served as a professional wedding photographer for several years, and is currently an award winning fine art photographer.

What other services does Palette Arts offer? We offer low cost, full color greeting cards that are a wonderful way to get your name and art into the hands of a lot of clients that perhaps would not otherwise have the opportunity to see your work. Also available are Color Brochures and Business Cards. They are very popular and an important part of the marketing strategy for artists as well, and something we have readily available samples to choose from. Along with these products is the need for the computer graphic design of the masters, which is all done in-house. The digital scans we produce are used for the greeting cards, websites, and business cards can also be used to create film slides needed for competitions or show entries.