Choosing a Colour Way: How to Pick Your Nothing for Granted Limited Edition
A colour way is a distinct colour version of the same underlying design — the imagery, composition, and layering stay identical, but the palette changes from one version to the next. Nothing for Granted was released in 9 colourways, meaning 9 separate colour treatments of a single 29-colour hand-pulled screenprint, each one its own limited edition.
I'm Sam Leitch, a contemporary New Zealand artist working in narrative-driven surrealist printmaking, and colourways are one of the more misunderstood parts of collecting screenprints — worth explaining clearly, because they change what you're actually choosing between when you buy into a collection like this one.
Same Design, Different Colour Story
Every colourway of Nothing for Granted shares the exact same 29-colour registration and layering sequence. The same composition, the same technical process, produced by Artrite Screen Printing on the same Fabriano Artistico cotton rag paper.
What changes is the palette used across those 29 layers. A shift in even a handful of colours can change how the whole piece reads emotionally: warmer palettes tend to sit softer and more contemplative, while higher-contrast colourways read bolder and more graphic.
"This isn't a limited edition variant in name only. Each colourway of a 29-colour print represents an entirely separate production effort, not a filter applied after the fact, but a full reproduction of the process with a new set of decisions to craft the viewer's experience."
Why Release 9 Versions of the Same Piece
The decision to release Nothing for Granted in 9 colourways rather than one definitive version came from the idea sitting underneath the whole collection: gratitude and appreciation aren't fixed experiences, and neither is the way a single image can be felt.
A softer, muted colourway might sit better in a quiet reading room; a bolder, saturated one might anchor a living space that wants more presence. Different colourways will genuinely resonate with different people and choosing a gift for someone else works the same way, since the right colourway often says more about the recipient than any single "definitive" version could.
Nothing for Granted - Beginning
How Colour Ways Affect Value and Scarcity
Each colourway of Nothing for Granted is its own limited, signed and numbered edition. That means scarcity operates at two levels: the overall collection is limited, and each individual colourway is limited within that. A colourway that proves more popular will sell through faster than others, which is part of why collectors interested in a specific version tend not to wait once they've found the one that resonates with them.
Found a colourway you're drawn to? Availability shifts as each one sells through. Come see Sam at Allpress Studio until July 20th to compare all 9 colourways of Nothing for Granted side by side. Otherwise, you can see them online here.
Choosing Between Colour Ways
There's no universally "right" colourway to choose. The decision usually comes down to where the piece will live and what tone you want it to carry in that space. It's worth viewing more than one colourway side by side if you can, since the difference between them is often more pronounced in person than in a product photo, particularly with a print built from 29 hand-mixed layers.
Choose your colour way - Nothing for Granted
Explore Collection
Frequently Asked Questions
What does "colour way" mean in screen printing? A colour way is a distinct colour version of the same design. The composition and layering process stay the same, but the palette used across the print changes from one colour way to the next.
How many colour ways does Nothing for Granted have? Nine. Each is a separate, limited, signed and numbered edition of the same 29-colour hand-pulled screenprint, produced by Artrite Screen Printing on Fabriano Artistico cotton rag paper.
Are all colour ways equally limited? Each colour way is its own limited edition (1 of 1, 5 or 10), but availability varies based on demand. Some colour ways sell through faster than others, so scarcity isn't identical across all 9.
Does a colour way affect the value of a print? Not inherently, but colour ways that prove more popular or sell out faster may become harder to find over time, which can affect their availability on the secondary market.
Where can I see all 9 colour ways of Nothing for Granted? The full collection is available online now.