Category Archives: Selling Art

Arts North Studio Tour

Larry and I had a wonderful studio tour April 30 & May 1, with the Arts North Studio Tour folks.

Larry showed his guitars, and I had my paintings, collages and assemblage sculptures.

Lots of visitors, and it’s wonderful to be a part of this fine group of artists, eleven studios in all.

One of the joys of having a guitar maker as a guest artist (and husband and bandmate) is that there were some wonderful musicians that came to see the guitars, and graced us with some music on the fly. One couple on Sunday came during an otherwise quiet time, which gave us a chance to trade some songs with each other. We’ll keep in touch for sure!

We’ll do it again in September. Guess we’d better get busy with making stuff.

Lynette Hensley

Two Studio Tours in September

1st Ever
Arts North! Studio Tour

Lynette Hensley, the Flying Redhead

Saturday/Sunday September 12 & 13 Please stop by studio 10 and come see the new work I’ve put together for your entertainment, and to take home with you if it strikes your fancy. (What is a “fancy” anyhoo?)

I will be at my own Flying Redhead home studio along with Robin Westbrook, faboolous jewelry maker.

Hours are 10 AM to 5 PM both days. Studio 10 is located at 3009 NE 135th St, Seattle 98125.

The tour map is available on the website along with info about all the other fine artists and studios on the tour! 11 studios, 37 artists!

Then the following week — (what was I thinking?!! It’s ok, it’ll be two weekends in a row – FUN!!)

10th Annual

Edmonds Art Studio Tour

Saturday/Sunday September 19 & 20. Please stop by studio 14 and say hi! I will be at fabulous print artist Mona Smiley Fairbanks’ home studio along with Robin Westbrook once again. It’s more fun when you get to spend the weekend with peeps you like!

I’m bringing new work, many smaller sized pieces, and matted studies all for viewing and purchase, as well as some new 3D figures I’ve been having a great time making. It’s all fun, and I’d love to see you!

Parking should be easy enough in both locations, and there will be signs pointing the way. Please download a map of the Edmonds tour here and be sure to check out the other artists on the tour website — there are some fascinating folks!

Hours are 10 AM to 5 PM both days. Studio 14 is located at 8622 202nd St SW, Edmonds 98026.

Art Walk Edmonds Preview at ART Spot
There will be a little preview of the tour at ART Spot on Thursday September 17 from 5-8PM for the Art Walk Edmonds – AWE. I’ll be there with one of my sculptures along with many of the other artists on the tour. It’s the only time we see each others work!

Oh Oh Oh!
One of the fun things we did last year and this year was artist interviews — here’s a link to mine wherein I answer “What does it mean to be human?” along with other intriguing questions.

Lynette Hensley

Merry Christmas 2014

Yesterday was Solstice, and that my dear friends, begins to bring relief to the darkness of winter nights. I choose to live in Seattle, where the light is scarce anyhow, and in the winter, it’s scarcer still. But solstice brings the light around again, and hope for warmer weather in a few months, and I compulsively make plans for the new year, and the next season of art work and shows. But that seems way too practical for me on this first night after solstice.

Tonight I want to pause and be grateful for the dark. In the dark I see less, and don’t get distracted by details. I can stop to thank God for the gift of loving people that surround me. For my mother who noted early on that I had a special art gene and nurtured all creative pursuits throughout my forming years. Mom is in nursing care, so I’m grateful for the nurses that care for her daily. I’m grateful for the chance to travel 5 hours by gas powered car on a smooth road with all the cars going in the same direction so I could see her eyes and make sure she knows I love her.

In the dark I can close my eyes and focus on my husband’s grayer-than-last-year bearded face with the curled mustache that makes him look like he’s permanently smiling. I’m grateful for my husband who always supports our mutual and individual creative pursuits, and participates in wordplay with me when the art is ready for naming.

In the dark I can consider how much light and joy my grandchildren bring to my life. Through the babies, I am reminded to wonder about things, and not just think I already know them. Through the adolescent ones I’m reminded to be passionate and move ahead with confidence, even if I’m mistaken. Most of the time it doesn’t matter anyway, but life is much better with passion.

In the dark I can imagine about the ones that are gone, and I hope that we will see each other once again, in some form, be it solid or ethereal. I imagine we will take the form of something that flies, like a bird or a cloud, but that doesn’t matter either. They are loved, and so am I, and the memories are enough.

Lynette

Photographing my art – beginner level

Photographing your art

I set out to learn about photographing my art for two reasons:

to get better photos for submission to shows
to have good enough digital images that can be reproduced as prints

The kind of art work I am photographing is 2 dimensional most of the time, with some 3d.
Up till now I have used my phone, my tablet, and another digital camera with a wide angle lens to take photos of my work. BUT the photos came out with a gold cast from incandescent lights, and I could never get them quite straight, or with high enough resolution to make prints I could sell. So the equipment I had didn’t really allow me to do what I wanted.

I am part of the way along in understanding how to do this for myself.

Here’s what I have set up for photographing so far:

A backdrop of very dark blue velvet (I had this on hand — I would prefer black) The velvet absorbs most of the light, and it doesn’t seem to affect the color appreciably.
A vertical easel. I once used some hanging grids that an artist friend had loaned me for another purpose. The grids actually worked better for me, but I own the easel.
A Nikon D5200 camera purchased at Sam’s club on sale. I recently got this very nice camera — this was the commitment moment for me. I decided to take this project on and learn how to photograph my own art.
The Camera came with two lenses. I use the Nikkor 55-200mm telephoto, and avoid all wide angle lenses for this purpose.
A tripod. I read reviews, and picked a Bower telescoping model that seemed substantial enough and would go high enough to photograph larger works.
Lighting. Two light stands with reflectors and white umbrellas. There was conflicting info about the need or usefulness of these lights — it’s just the way I chose to go for now.
(Something like this: http://www.amazon.com/LimoStudio-Photography-Portrait-Continuous-Umbrella/dp/B00FFJ3QNO/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1393116639&sr=8-14&keywords=photo+lights)
The camera came with a bluetooth connection that connects to my phone or tablet so that I could take a photo without touching the camera. This has proven to be VERY helpful. I can preview the image on the tablet, which is MUCH bigger than the viewfinder.
A polarizing filter – This is to reduce or eliminate specular highlights, those annoying reflections off the highpoints of your painting. I have not figured out how to work this yet.

Several concepts I found helpful:

Lighting

You are not trying to focus the light, but get a diffused, evenly lit appearance.
Do not point the lights directly at the flat surface, but using two lights, set them at angles (I use 45 degrees to the right and left, at the same height as the surface you are photographing.
The camera goes between the lights.

Camera set up

Camera and image must be level for best results.
Fill the camera view finder with the image, leaving a small border for cropping later.
Watch for distortions — make the image square in the viewfinder for best results. This can be very challenging.
I place a white card in the photo off to the side to give me something to compare for white balance.
I set the camera to take a jpg and a raw image for each shot.
ISO 100 to 200
Aperture 5-6 is the recommended.

Varnishing the painting

I varnish my paintings to finish and protect them. I used to use gloss, but have changed to eggshell which seems to help prevent specular highlights, and I like the change.

Challenges

I have to read the manual each time I do this, so you can see I’m in the learning stages.
I have not figured out how to set the white balance in the camera yet.

I am a fairly experienced Photoshop user, at least for the way I use it.
I know how to balance the colors, fix shapes and minor edits of reflections.
One thing I haven’t learned yet is how to use the white card I’ve placed in a photo to correct color in either the camera or Photoshop.

If you have info that could fill in the blanks, please share. It would be most appreciated.

Here’s the article that got me started.
http://dallasartsrevue.com//resources/How-to-Photo-Art.shtml

Lynette

New Work for Edmonds Art Studio Tour

Some interesting additions to my artworks! I’m calling them The Actors. I currently have five figures to show. This is a fun departure from 2 dimensional paintings and collages, and more akin to what I did in my costuming days.

Meet the twins, called “Illumin-naughty” and “Illumin-nice.”
Then there is “Nearly 12”, mostly because he sports an 11 on the pool ball.
The first one I made, her name is “First Lady.” Simply named.
Finally there’s “Queen 3”, pictured above. She came back from her vacation in the tropics wearing a wooden pineapple bowl.

Also a new thing I have done is called “Headstones.” Yep, heads on stones. Kinda cool as paperweights or desk toys.

Edmonds Art Studio Tour 2014

This year, September 20 & 21, once again I will be participating in the Edmonds Art Studio Tour. This event has become a destination, gaining in popularity and acclaim, and is now in its 9th year! I was fortunate to be a guest artist at Cami Smith’s studio that first year, was at Lynn Scott’s studio last year, and this year will be in Studio 11, with Mona Fairbanks in her studio, along with Robin Westbrook with her beaded jewelry.

This year I will have paintings as well as some 3D work, assemblage figures that I’m working on as of this summer, as well as some less expensive work, drawings, paint sketches, small collages and prints. People have shown an interest in these works, so I’m bringing them along for the tour.

In preparation for this year’s tour, we thought it would be good to give folks a chance to get to know us better, and so we put together an artist interview project. Here’s mine!

Photos from last year with Lisa JonesMoore and Lynn Scott:

Photos from the first year with Cami Smith, Cami’s mom and Pat, pictured below with happy hands!

Here’s the link to the Edmonds Art Studio Tour 2014!

#EAST #EdmondsArtStudioTour #LynetteHensley #FlyingRedhead

September 20 & 21, 2014

Edmonds Art Festival Juried Gallery

I am honored to have work included in the Edmonds Art Festival Juried Gallery this year. Two pieces were accepted, Fancy Coats and Friend of the Family. However, the good/bad news is that Fancy Coats already sold and is now in a private collection!

Edmonds Art Festival is a yearly event, always over Father’s day weekend, and is a signature event for the city of Edmonds, a fantastic supporter of its arts community.

Two Sisters together, with Fancy Coats and laughter SOLD!

Friends by the fireplace — one furry, one not.

NEAT: North End Arts Tour December 6-8

Please join me and 30 other artists for this studio tour throughout North Seattle, December 6-8. I will be in studio 4, as a guest of Sandra Spear, a handmade glass bead jewelry artist, along with Priscilla Peterson, who is an embellished garments artist. I will be the token painter! 😉 I expect that the weekend will be inspiring!

I do have new work to show and I’d love to share it with you. It will all be for sale of course, along with the jewelry and clothing at our studio, just in time for the holidays. And if you just need a creative outing, this is a great way to spend a day, or the whole weekend!

More information about the event at the NEAT Seattle website: http://www.neatseattle.com/

There you can get a PDF of the entire brochure. Pick up a passport at your first site, and get it stamped at all 7 sites by Sunday night for a chance to win dinner for 2 at Kisaku Restaurant.

Hope to see you there!

My best,

Lynette

Brilliant Affirmations

I’ve been working on affirmations lately with Alyson Stanfield, at artbizcoach.I’ve worked with Alyson before, taken classes and gotten LOTS of good information. I really appreciate her support and the community she’s built up around the coaching she does.

You might have read some of the affirmations on my facebook postings. Not posted yet, one of them is: “My art work is brilliant and fun.”

I chose to focus on this one for a bit because of a statement from one of the art foundation teachers I had while working on my BFA in the century before this one. She was teaching a class in two-dimensional art, essential for graphic design, and for simply understanding color/value/line/shape relationships. She repeatedly insisted that none of us or the works we produced were brilliant enough, at least that’s how I heard her words. “More brilliant, more brilliant!” was her mantra, or nag, depending on one’s perspective.

In the end, the class did it’s job, making us all think about how visual elements come together, and to make the leap from simple to brilliant. BUT I will never feel comfortable in range of someone who teaches this way — teaching by complaint never creates confident artists.In total contrast, my mentor and advisor, Elizabeth Hopper, said many things to me — the most memorable within the point of this little post was, “Well, you’ve found your voice.” Thank you Liz.

Oh my — DUH! I have to change my affirmation!! “My art work is brilliant and fun, and I have my own voice.”

I remember this as I contemplate the next steps of what I will do as an artist.

Gasworks Gallery Open Studios

I visited Gasworks Gallery open studios last night to see how it was, and who was there, and what they were doing. The good news is that there were LOTS of people visiting, touring and chatting with artists. LOTS of people. It was a crush, which is good even if it’s not comfortable. OK it was hot and crowded and I didn’t know anyone there, but met some real nice people for a brief moment anyhow. One young pair of creatives, an oil painter and a writer, had some colorful and intriguing work going on in their tiny (5×8?) studio. I hope the ventilation system is good!

The physical space of Gasworks Gallery studios is interesting — like a rabbit warren with stairs. The upstairs is accessible only in sections by staircases off the central hall on the main floor up to the next level. You might be able to see the adjacent section, but would have to descend the stairs and travel the hall to ascend the next staircase. Interesting building choices. The basement is only accessible from outside the building on the lake side. There are spaces for rent. Standard studio spaces range from $150 to $495 and are month-to-month, which I’m sure is meant to attract artists — as this is quite reasonable for studio space. I didn’t see any plumbing upstairs, though it may be that it was there. The place was dressed for the tour, with the ugly stuff all covered over.

Another artist, in the basement, was in the process of selling a piece when we entered. The buyer had discovered what the artist valued — a good home for the art, and someone who REALLY resonated with it. The buyer made an offer and got a bargain for sure. It was a good piece. This was one of those moments that both hurt me and gave me hope. There is art selling in Seattle, and good art is being made. On the one hand, did the buyer take advantage of the artist’s emotions about wanting to make sure that her art found a good home? As we entered her room, she was saying how meaningful art can be, how it speaks to someone and when someone makes a connection to it, they are meant to be together, art and owner. The buyer seemed to love it, and then I heard, “Will you take (x amount?) for it?” By that time the artist had painted herself into a corner (sorry for the pun) and seemed to feel that she had no choice but to accept the buyer’s offer. She took a breath and said yes, and seemed glad that it sold to the buyer. Happy buyer, happy artist. All’s well that ends well. This made me uncomfortable, as I’ve been in the same position.

The problem is if I have other collectors that paid more, and found that I took less for a later, similarly made piece, that might make them feel that I did not deal with them fairly. It does bring up a question for sure.

Of course none of this will matter once the artist dies….

1st Ever Arts North! Studio Tour

Lynette Hensley, the Flying Redhead

10th Annual

Edmonds Art Studio Tour

1st Ever
Arts North! Studio Tour