The Art Print Masterpiece.
The Art Print Masterpiece£16.00
“How to turn an art print into a painting reproduction complete with brushstrokes on canvas, with the look and feel of an original.”
My adventures into picture replication started, quite accidentally, some years ago when I was setting up home in a 15th Century English farmhouse. At that time, I often visited local auctions that provided a source of inexpensive period furniture and paintings. On one such visit, I came across a job lot of miscellaneous pictures. Amongst them, a grubby looking picture in an antique gilded frame caught my eye. It was a picture of a horse, one of my passions, and looked vaguely familiar. I picked it up and gave it a closer look. The back of the canvas was a dirty grey and it was mounted on a coarsely made simple wooden stretcher. The frame in turn was secured to the stretcher with rusty protuberant nails. The picture itself could just be seen through a layer of what looked like dark brown varnish, beneath years of grime.
I bought the picture, along with the job lot, with a view to getting it restored and a few weeks later, I took it to a local picture restorer for his opinion. He advised me that it was a section from a picture originally produced by the 18th century English painter of horses, George Stubbs. He remarked that Queen Elizabeth II was an admirer of his work and that she had a number of his paintings. This restorer was known to be an expert and, amongst other things, had worked on old master paintings at Thornbury Castle, formerly owned by Henry VIII.
His inspection passed from the picture to me. After a brief pause he added "It's very good … probably produced a couple of years ago in the Far East". He explained that the aged look was probably achieved with varnish and the help of a hot oven. I was none the less pleased with my art print masterpiece. I liked the subject matter and it did have a certain presence and so I took it home and returned it to its place in the dinning room.
"The Stubbs" as it became known, was often the topic of dinner party conversations - long after the initial intrigue had faded. Over the following years, the picture enjoyed the occasional admiration of a new viewer. One of these admirers immediately recognised the subject matter as well as the artist and doubtfully enquired if it was the real thing. Quoting the initial opinion of the picture restorer, I told her the whole story.
After studying the picture for a while, she said, "I think that we could do better than that". And so, that's how it all started. We developed our own technique from scratch, and did do much better. So much so that I was to repeat those words some years later after friends and colleagues started requesting commissions. With a small replica, wrapped in canvas, beneath my arm, I walked into a gallery where there was some second rate, canvas replicas on the wall for sale. My apparent interest in these pictures was observed by the owner who approached me enquiring if he could help. With an eye on his pictures, I simply said, "We can do better than that". Of course, I had thrown down the gauntlet and had his attention. I was immediately in a position to back-up my claim with his 'show me' enquiry. I carefully unfolded the canvas and handed him my replica. He carried it toward the window for a careful inspection. Within a few minutes, we got down to business. That is how we first started in Europe. What began as a hobby became an enjoyable business and a home packed with replicas of our favorite paintings.
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