SHOP

ORDERING

To place your order securely online:

• Place your items into the shopping cart by clicking the ADD TO CART button.
• Return to your cart anytime using the link at the bottom of the page.
• When you have finished shopping, click CHECKOUT to complete your purchase.
• Add any special instructions you have for your order, then simply complete the checkout form.
• We accept Master Card, Visa, American Express, and Discover.

To order by phone

Please call 203-798-6063, or you can email us and include your phone number with the best time to reach you. We can call you to take the order at your convenience.

To order by regular mail

Please send your check or money order payable to:

Michael Whelan
PO Box 88
Brookfield, CT 06804
USA

NOTE: Only checks drawn on US banks and International Money Orders will be accepted.

Sales Tax will be charged at the rate of 6.35% for Connecticut residents only.

SHIPPING

Within the United States, we ship via FedEx Ground or Priority Mail via the post office. Air Service is available at an additional charge. Please tell us if we are shipping to a home or commercial address.

For international shipments, we use Global Priority or Express Mail via the Post Office. They are reliable and reasonably priced.

All orders for unframed items are shipped within 2 business days from our offices in Connecticut. Custom framed prints are shipped as soon as possible, usually within 2 weeks.

Artwork is fragile and we do our best to get it to you safely, but accidents sometimes happen. Please follow these instructions so that we may replace damaged goods promptly:

• If you receive a damaged package via FedEx, please save all packing materials and call 1-800-GOFEDEX immediately for instructions. They will pick up the package and return it to us for replacement at no charge to you.
• If you receive a damaged package via the Post Office, please save all packing materials and contact us right away. We will assist you with return and replacement.

ORIGINAL ART

For over twenty years we have sold original Michael Whelan art through our website.

We typically add new artwork at least 3-4 times throughout the year (particularly during the holidays) and always advertise the release of originals through our email newsletter. Be sure to sign up to be first to find out when new originals are added to our shop.

All original artwork is professionally framed and shipped free of charge within the continental U.S.

Preliminary Art & Concepts

Michael typically produces several prelims while preparing to execute a painting. This preliminary art can include alternate layouts (anywhere from 3-8 per cover illustration), figure sketches, and color studies. The level of “finish” can vary with Michael spending more time on ideas that capture his imagination.

Smaller Paintings

Many of the smaller paintings in our shop started as daily warmups. These creative exercises help Michael stretch his imagination—and quite often his technique as seen in his Leftovers & Palette Gremlins gallery project.

Many of these smaller works offer a return to ideas and themes. The Portals series, for example, is a philosophical exploration set against ruined castles and crumbling walls that Michael has documented in his travels.

Sometimes there’s just a visceral need to paint rusting metal in hyper realism like in his Signs series.

Cover Illustrations

Most sales of major paintings are handled offline, but on occasion we may offer a few cover illustrations here in our shop. Check out website galleries for what else might be available.

We recently added “original available” markers to indicate paintings in the Whelan collection. You’ll see those markers on the gallery detail pages after you click on a specific painting.

Please feel check with us on the “for sale” status and pricing of these pieces.

Fine Art

Michael has displayed art in fine galleries around the world. See our News & Events page, or subscribe to our newsletter, for current exhibitions.

As with his cover illustrations, we handle most sales offline. Look for the same “original available” in our website galleries to indicate when a fine art painting is in the Whelan collection.

Please feel free to check with us on the “for sale” status and pricing of these pieces.

MORE PRINT INFORMATION

Our Prints

Whether they have been printed on huge mechanical presses or on our own Epson printer, whether they have been published by other companies or Michael has actually printed them himself, every effort has been made to produce high-quality reproductions for your collection. Many of our older open edition prints and posters were done before the widespread availability of museum quality paper and their prices reflect that. For the last decade we have only used acid-free paper, even on unsigned prints.

Print Numbering

When artists create original prints by etching on wood, stone, or metal and ink is applied from that surface directly onto the paper, the first few prints are “Proofs.” The artist selects the best one, prints the rest of the run to match it and signs and numbers the prints in order. Because the surface may wear out slightly after each print, in theory the first prints (Artist Proofs) and the lower numbers would be of higher quality than the last ones printed. Today, most limited edition prints are printed on commercial offset presses or giclée printers and all the prints are the same. As a way to designate the size of a limited edition and its authenticity, the limited edition print industry has retained this numbering tradition.

Offset Lithography

Offset Lithography has been especially popular with art print publishers for the last 30 years. To reproduce a painting in this way requires that the art be photographed or scanned and the colors separated and broken down into tiny dots of the four process ink colors (cyan blue, yellow, magenta and black). In “four-color” printing the size, arrangement, and patterns of these dots determine how well they reproduce the full range of color of the original art. Each color has its own metal plate and the ink is “offset” onto rubber blankets which print onto acid-free paper. For limited edition prints, special fade-resistant inks are used and additional passes or even additional plates are needed to capture the subtlety of Whelan originals. The entire edition is run at the same time, Michael signs the prints, and then the plates are destroyed.

Giclée (pronounced zhee-CLAY) Prints

Giclée are the new standard for fine art reproductions. Using a high-end digital printing process our giclées are printed on museum quality watercolor paper and canvas. Under magnification, they are remarkably similar to continuous tone lithography (no dots). Giclées are more expensive to produce than offset lithos. and the prints may be run at different times, but often they are a more faithful representation of the artwork. We keep our editions small and the colors are gorgeous.

CUSTOM FRAMING

We have been offering affordable high-quality custom framing of Michael Whelan prints for more than 25 years. Our framers are dedicated to conservation framing and we enjoy choosing frames that protect and enhance the prints. Signed prints are always framed with archival materials under conservation plexiglass. If you have a question about our frame choices or have a different framing idea for a print you are ordering, please contact us. Be sure to include your phone number and the best time to reach you and we will be happy to work with you.

Frame Dimensions

Traditionally, the size of a frame does not take into account the width of the moulding. Framers calculate size based on the dimensions of whatever is being framed, not how much space it takes up on the wall. For matted prints, our dimensions are measured to the edge of the mat. With unmatted prints, the frame size is the same dimensions as the print. To avoid confusion, think of it this way: If you are looking at frames at a local store for an 8 x 10 photo, the frames would be listed as 8 x 10 no matter the outside dimensions of the frames.