Grant Symon - foodART

It may seem that printing via electronic printer, is simple and that anyone can do it, but for high-end imaging this is not the case and like many processes it requires considerable technical know-how to do it well.  People have written books about it!

In my early years as a professional, I began to understand that the great artists hold an even balance of creativity and technical skill and that an artist’s work is limited, or expanded, in equal measure by those technical skills and by their imagination.  I smile to think of Michelangelo creating masterpieces with nothing but a hammer and chisel, whereas most of us, given those tools, might manage to break something. Equally, I love the story of Picasso reworking part of a painting he had given to a friend years earlier, because he thought he could still improve it.

The artistic process never ends and so whenever I can, I want to be a part of it.

I produce the prints in my garden-studio in Normandy. The building was originally a stables for a horse and cart and when we first arrived here it still had the horse’s ‘manger’! Sadly we had to re-think the space in order to convert it into a studio, but either way, I still like to think that once upon a time, a horse lived in my studio.

Prints are made on 300 g/m2, acid free, archival paper, using pigment inks and producing an incredible print-permanence of up to 200 years if not exposed to direct sunlight ( Wilhelm Imaging Research, Inc.). So when properly cared for, your prints will not fade in your lifetime, nor your children’s and will be just as bright and colourful in the year 2320!

Printing involves rigorous colour and image management to acheive optimum clarity, sharpness and softness with smooth tonal transitions and is of course followed by careful post-print inspection. Prints are given 24 hours drying time and are then trimmed to maintain a 1cm border which fascilitates both handling and framing. Your picture framer may need to remove this border, depending on your choice of frame.

(The garden-studio is not air conditioned and so ambient weather may play a role in periods of exceptionally high temperatures or humidity extremes, as seen in 2019/2020 and which are outside the recommended range for paper, inks and electric machinery. In this case, printing will be delayed).

Prints are:

• Signed by hand
• Blind-stamped
• Accompanied by a certificate of authentication
• 3 Unique (matching) holographic ID stickers are applied to:
The print
The certificate
A duplicate certificate retained by me


A pair of white cotton gloves are included for handling, along with handling instructions.


Post and packing


Since I print everything myself, there will be times when printing may be delayed, but generally, prints will be made within 3 days of receiving payment and will normally be sent the next working day.