The Go-To Matte Canvas for High-End Art Prints

Over the years, customers have turned, time and again, to LexJet Sunset Reserve Matte Canvas, to produce vibrant, fine-art and photo-realistic graphics on a smooth matte canvas finish that offers a high-quality, lasting image.

The poly-cotton blend and neutral-white finish deliver consistent imaging for a variety of commercial graphics, as well as fine-art and photographic reproductions. LexJet Sunset Reserve Matte Canvas was developed to produce great colors without optical brighteners.

“I loved the texture of that for art prints; I like the tooth it has on it,” Andy Wredberg of AW Artworks said in this post.

It’s also been a long-time favorite for Hawaii-based Chromaco, thanks to its wide color gamut and Dmax that deliver bright and bold art reproductions. Adding Sunset Gloss Coating protects the canvas for gallery wraps that have become increasingly popular, Chromaco says. Check out their work here.

Customer favorite LexJet Sunset Reserve Matte Canvas also has a new lower price. Watch the video above for details, or go here to learn more.

 

Chromaco and Canvas: A Match Made in Hawaii

Canvas Gallery Wraps by Chromaco
Perfect reproduction of Colleen Wilcox’s art by Chromaco on Sunset Reserve Matte Canvas.

 

Chromaco was printing canvas before canvas was cool. Well, it’s always been cool, but Chromaco perfected its print processes on canvas and other fine art media years ago. During that time, canvas has always been the mainstay of Chromaco’s fine art reproduction business.

Canvas Prints by ChromacoBased in Honolulu, Chromaco is at the heart of a vibrant art community, fed by (as you may have already guessed) a thriving tourist trade. Though most of Chromaco’s work serves the Hawaiian Islands, Chromaco also ships its superb prints to Japan and the mainland U.S.

The secret to Chromaco’s success? Quality. Chromaco’s business was launched by providing ICC profiles to end users and businesses. They were in the color game right off the bat, so it was a smooth transition to reproducing fine art, and reproducing it in Chromaco’s exacting way.

“Since we do our high-resolution digital capture here in-house, it’s all about maintaining accurate color profiles. We do all our own ICC profiling. We start off with our scanner profile for the Phase One back and then we have ICC profiles for all the different devices and materials, including our canvas of choice, Sunset Reserve Matte Canvas,” says Craig Ellenwood, Chromaco general manager. “I find that the Sunset Canvas has a large color gamut. When I print a grayscale bar I can definitely see every step cleanly. There’s no blocking up in the shadows, so the Dmax is there, and it offers a wide range of blacks. We profile the canvas after we coat it so we get the most accurate profile for how it looks as an end product.”

Fine art printing by Chromaco
Close-up of a canvas wrap printed on Sunset Reserve Matte Canvas with Sunset Gloss Coating by Chromaco for artist Heather Brown.

Ellenwood adds that they use Sunset Reserve Matte Canvas in tandem with Sunset Gloss Coating. The Sunset Coating, says Ellenwood, dries more quickly than most coatings on the market, which is essential for ensuring quick turnarounds for Chromaco’s clientele.

“Here in Hawaii we have high humidity and temperatures, and some of the coatings on the market can take three or four days to dry completely sometimes. It’s nice with the LexJet canvas and coating to have it dry overnight so we can package it up in the morning,” says Ellenwood.

Fine Art on Canvas by Chromaco
Printing Ray Tabora’s fine art on canvas at Chromaco.

Ellenwood adds that while canvas has been the company’s cornerstone for the past ten years or so, he’s seen an increase in clients requesting gallery wraps. He says gallery wraps are a simple solution for an artist to hand off to their clients because it can still be framed or hung up on the wall as-is.

“Framing can be expensive and people like the look of a gallery wrap without having to invest in a frame,” says Ellenwood. “The majority of our business is in canvas and most of our clients are painters, galleries and photographers. We also offer other art products like aluminum and watercolor prints and some commercial signage, but the mainstay of our business is canvas.”

Living Color: Hawaii’s Chromaco Finds a Perfect Match for its Island Art

Craig Ellenwood, Chromaco's general manager with some of the captures printed on LexJet Sunset Photo Metallic Paper from his work documenting the Kilauea lava flow on the Big Island of Hawaii.

Chromaco, based in Honolulu, sells its fine art reproductions both east and west across the Pacific, as well as throughout its home base in the Hawaiian Islands. Much of the artwork Chromaco prints has a unique island flair, often requiring an equally unique medium in which to produce it.

When Chromaco’s general manager, Craig Ellenwood, found out that LexJet was introducing Sunset Photo Metallic Paper he made sure to pre-order the pearlescent paper. Ellenwood is also a photographer whose recent work chronicling the spectacular Kilauea lava flow on Hawaii’s Big Island was a perfect fit for Sunset Photo Metallic Paper.

“With the metallic paper, the fiery reds in the images just pop,” says Ellenwood. “When I’m in the editing process and working with the raw images I definitely think about how it will look on the paper, and I’ll adjust the image saturation based on the type of paper I’m using.”

Ellenwood adds that Sunset Photo Metallic Paper has been a boon to business. Chromaco’s artist and photographer clientele, including 3D artists, have been clamoring to have their work printed on the paper. Dennis Mathewson, well-known for years in the automotive art market, uses metal as his medium almost exclusively.

Dennis Mathewson's ultra-vibrant work is a perfect match for Sunset Photo Metallic Paper.

“We’ve started printing editions of his work on the Sunset Photo Metallic Paper. Recently we had to rush a proof to a gallery on Maui and there was no time to make and coat a canvas print, so I chose the metallic paper. People were blown away with how well it replicated the qualities of the original painting and someone bought the proof,” says Ellenwood. “I use the highest resolution setting, 2880, and it looks great, particularly with real saturated colors and high contrast. Black and white prints also look amazing.”

To find out more about Ellenwood’s work documenting the devastation of a small community on the Big Island of Hawaii, go to:

http://www.ellenwoodphotography.com/royal_gardens/intro.html

http://news.motionx.com/motionx-gps/2009/08/12/motionx-gps-assists-photographer-in-kilauea-volcano-expedition/

3D animator and illustrator Erik Flint uses Sunset Photo Metallic Paper to give his other-worldly art another dimension.