Digital Printing/Giclee Ellen Miller Braun's standard prints are produced using very high quality digital printing on acid free paper. The finished piece has finely balanced colors that are slightly raised off of the paper's surface giving you a print with a unique look and feel, creating a lovely decoration for so many wonderful occasions. A giclee (zhee-clay) is an individually produced, high resolution, high fidelity, limited fine art reproduction created on a special, large format printer. The virtually continuous tone of this process gives the giclee a range or gamut, and control of color that exceeds far beyond that of a lithograph and other printing processes, giving each piece amazingly vibrant color with greater and crisper details. Although giclee are referred to as "modern day lithographs," they clearly reach beyond this artistic level, creating fine art reproductions that are coveted by collectors for their fidelity and quality. Giclee means "to spray" in French. The individual inks are actually slowly sprayed onto the paper. Created is a fine art reproduction of amazingly vibrant colors. Ellen uses 100% cotton rag for her pieces as well as Amate, hand made paper from the Amate tree (parchment and other options are available). Both paper and inks are archival quality, known to last 200 years, or longer. Each of Ellen Braun's giclee fine art reproductions is a limited, signed edition, whose value, with time, G-d willing, will appreciate. To date, 2007, the available reproductions number between 100 - 250 in an edition. What is microcalligraphy? What makes Ellen's artwork unique? Some of you may have heard of, and possibly already own, microcalligraphy art, also known as micrography. What is the difference between Ellen's work and the pieces you are familiar with? Most microcalligraphy artwork is done in shades of black. Some artists have introduced color into their works. They use watercolors to paint their design, then using black pen, write in sections of the picture - for instance - a design of Ruth collecting sheaves of wheat is painted in color, with the Book of Ruth written to create her black braid. The beautiful picture is a wash of watercolors, her braid the only section of the piece with writing. Ellen's microcalligraphy designs are created entirely with words. Ellen dips her very fine tipped calligraphy pen into a spectrum of water colors and writes, patiently spending anywhere from one month to a year, creating each original piece. These colorful images are created entirely by using the chosen text. The majority of text in Ellen's artwork is from scriptures or prayers. "People often ask me how I can write so small and where I get my ideas from for each picture. The answer is very simple. It is a wonderful Blessing that I was given as a gift from HaShem. I am very thankful for such a special gift, and thankful that I was given something that I can share with others. My microcalligraphy pieces are unique in their development. Sometimes I get a design in my head and suit the text to the image. Sometimes I am inspired to write a specific text and design the picture around the meaning of the text. As you will become aware, in some pieces, the text is written numerous times using Hebrew numerology, where each letter of the Hebrew alphabet has numerical value - such as the number 18 which in Hebrew spells the word "Chai," life. The amount of times I write the text in each piece to create the picture, adds another, deeper dimension to it's special spiritual meaning. To do this, I do a "word count" of the desired text and block out the piece according to how many times I would like to write it to create the picture - then I know how small, or VERY small I will need to write! I etch the design onto the paper that will become the "original" rather than using pencil so there will be no pencil marks on the finished piece. Now I'm ready to choose my colors and start patiently following the etched lines, writing each unique piece. Each of my pictures has a full description that is given upon purchase. Included is how many times the specific text has been written in order to create the piece, with the numerical explanation." The tiny colorful writing of each piece flows together developing and creating each exquisite picture. The written text is the picture, and the picture is the written text. Each picture is brought to life with this beautiful display of vibrant color and spirituality. Ellen Miller Braun was born and educated in Chicago Illinois, U.S.A. She studied fine arts at Northeastern Illinois University. An ardent Zionist, Ellen immigrated to Israel with her husband and children in 1983. They live in Ginot Shomron, in the Biblical hills of Samaria. Ellen's traditionally observant Jewish background has guided and inspired her in the development of the Biblical themes of her artwork. Ellen's beautiful micro-calligraphy pieces can be viewed at www.nishmati.co.il Ellen can be reached by e-mail at Nishmati@pobox.com