How can you tell the difference between a watercolor and a print?

Answer 1

If its a poster, you will have a stamp on the back of where it was made/reproduced. If its an oil painting, it will be on heavier paper, and more than likely, it will be an original. Although, I've never seen one in person, there is a web site that will tell you more. www.rosamond.com.

She worked not only with watercolors, but did several oil and guauche works. They vary in size, but some of her oil paintings are quite large.

Answer 2

An original will usually have visible traces of the making process which are lost in a reproduction. An obvious example is an oil painting, which usually has an uneven surface, both because the 'support' (generally canvas) gives texture to the paint, and because each brush-stroke produces a variation in the thickness of the paint. Even with a pencil drawing, there's a silvery sheen which isn't reproduced.

Another difference is that a reproduction will produce all colours by using varying amounts of a small number of inks. By examining it closely, it's possible to see the inks as tiny dots, which may be patterned or random depending on the reproduction method. (There are methods which don't use dots, but they are rare.)

A third method is to look at the rear of the work. All reproduction is done on paper. It may be textured to resemble canvas, but from the rear it will still clearly be paper. Even when the original would be on paper, as in the case of a drawing or watercolour, a different type of paper is used for printing; with practice you can easily tell them apart.

Answer 3

a print is a advertisement that is mass produced e.g flyers, otherwise a poster are things that are entertainment that you can put on your wall or possibly even a very small advertisement such as a lost dog has been found.

Answer 4

A watercolor is usually done on a heavy paper specifically made for watercolor, and on close examination this should be evident. Anything that is printed will have a dot pattern in it. The dot pattern becomes visible at certain magnifications. A very fine dot pattern will be harder to see than that of a color photograph in a newspaper.