This Woman Writes by Carolyn Henderson

Afraid to Pray for Patience

Posted on May 23, 2014 by This Woman Writes

The Christian experience, and life in general, is filled with waves. The stillness we look for is in Christ. Opalescent Sea, original oil painting by Steve Henderson; licensed open edition prints at Great Big Canvas and iCanvasART.

The Christian existence is filled with ludicrously shortsighted sayings that sound funny when we first hear them (too often, from the pulpit), but ultimately result in the weakening of our faith and approach to the throne of God.

Like this one, which I politely tolerated long before there were Facebook memes:

“Don’t pray for patience, because by golly, God’ll put you in situations to make sure you get it!” Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Or, if you must, LOL.

Given that the average human being has an eye out for comfort and security, the end result to statements like this is that we won’t pray for patience, because that cold-blooded, insensate God we serve is ready to slap us around with suffering and pain, since, well, we asked for it.

This article is excerpted from my blog, Commonsense Christianity at BeliefNet. To read the rest, please follow the link to The Christian 401k Plan.

Three times a week at Commonsense Christianity I write about, well, commonsense Christianity. There are a lot of substitutes out there, and I’m rooting around in the woodpile, turning over logs and looking for bugs.

This article is linked to Christian Mom Blogger, Essential Things, Womanhood with Purpose, Anything Goes Friday, That Friday Blog Hop, My Turn for Us, A Conquered Mess, Friday Flash Blog, A Look at the Book, Katherine’s Corner, The Deliberate Mom, All Things with Purpose, Hope in Every Season, Mom on Demand, I Choose Joy, Serving Joyfully, Graced Simplicity, Hearts for Home, Ducks in a Row, Adorned from Above, Raising Homemakers, Joy Focused Learning, Makeovers and Motherhood, True Aim Education, To Love Honor and Vacuum, A Little R and R, My Daily Walk in His Grace, Wow Me Wednesday, A Wise Woman, My Disorganized Life, Wholehearted Wednesdays, My Love for Words, Women of Worship, Moms the Word, Life of Faith, Monday Musings, Babies and Beyond, Inspire Me Monday, Titus 2 Tuesday, Share Your Stuff Tuesdays, Abiding Woman, Turn It up Tuesdays,

Posted in Christian, Faith, Family, home, inspirational, Lifestyle, religion, spirituality | Tagged 401k, Christianity, commonsense, Facebook, faith, patience | 8 Comments

Grazing in the Salmon River Mountains — The Story of This Painting

Posted on May 20, 2014 by This Woman Writes

Quiet, peaceful, serene. We can use these elements in our lives. Grazing in the Salmon River Mountains, original oil painting, 9 x 12 on panel, by Steve Henderson.

The story of the painting, Grazing in the Salmon River Mountains, by Steve Henderson, at Start Your Week with Steve.

The Pacific Northwest is a land of mountains and dreams, meadows and aspirations, hidden lakes and hard work. Recently, we visited a woman whose family homesteaded deep within the Salmon River Mountains, Idaho, and when she said that she, “lived up in the mountains,” we really had no idea how seriously she meant that.

Getting to our friend’s place is 20 minute drive, uphill, on winding and wending gravel roads. Neighbors, the human kind, are non-existent, but herds of deer make their gentle way through the place, nodding at the horses. Domestic and wild, both sets of animals live at peace with one another, because there is plenty of space in which to graze.

Breathe in the beauty of mountains, lake, silence, and serenity through the paintings of Steve Henderson. Shades of Turquoise, original oil painting by Steve Henderson.

Being country people, Steve and Carolyn are accustomed to living in relative quiet, but even where they live there are car sounds and tractor rumblings. But deep within the Salmon River Mountains there is true silence, so silent that one’s ear strains to hear a sound, any sound.

And there it is — an eagle’s cry. Or the whisper of the wind through the trees. And then there is more silence.

In a world where noise is constant and chronic, silence is an anomaly that has the potential to heal the wounds in our souls, simply because it enables us to think, to reflect, to meditate upon truth and life and wonder and grace. It is good to seek silence, and while most of us do not live deep, deep within embracing mountains, we can pull away from activity and busyness and noise for a mere five minutes in the day, and allow our spirits to rest.

Grazing in the Salmon River Mountains is an original oil painting on 9 x 12 canvas panel. It is framed with a gold frame, and visually, it provides the silence and rest and stillness that our spirits crave.

For the beginning and intermediate watercolorist, Step by Step Art Success at Amazon.com is a digital workshop that leads to a beautiful finished painting.

Please contact Carolyn@SteveHendersonFineArt.com for information on Grazing in the Salmon River Mountains or any of Steve Henderson’s original and licensed fine art paintings.

Read more at Start Your Week with Steve.

Check out Steve’s artwork at Steve Henderson Fine Art. Original paintings — licensed open edition prints — Santa and Holiday. Steve’s licensed work is available at Great Big Canvas, iCanvasART, Amazon.com, Light in the Box, and Framed Canvas Art.

If you are a manufacturer who would like to use Steve’s artwork on your products, please contact his agents, Matt Appelman (matt.appelman@artlicensing.com). You can see Steve’s Art Licensing page here.

Check out, also, Steve and Carolyn’s products at Amazon.com:

Live Happily on Less: 52 Ways to Renovate Your Life and Lifestyle (paperback and digital book)

Grammar Despair: Quick, simple solutions to problems like, “Do I say Him and Me or He and I?” (paperback and digital book)

Step by Step Watercolor Success (digital DVD workshop designed for beginning to intermediate watercolor students and artists)

Posted in Art, Beauty, blogging, Culture, Current Events, Daily Life, decor, Encouragement, fine art, Green, Growth, home, homesteading, inspirational, interior decorating, Life, Lifestyle, News, outdoors, painting, Personal, Random, simple living | Tagged deer, Idaho, mountains, pacific northwest, peace, Salmon River | Leave a comment

Shades of Turquoise — The Story of This Painting

Posted on May 13, 2014 by This Woman Writes

Shade of Turquoise are ever so much more colorful than shades of grey. Shades of Turquoise, original oil painting by Steve Henderson.

The story of the painting, Shades of Turquoise, by Steve Henderson at Start Your Week with Steve:

It was not a dark and stormy night, but rather a brisk October afternoon in Oregon’s Wallowa Mountains when Steve, son Jordan, and two friends made the nine mile hike from Wallowa Lake to Ice Lake.

At 7.500 feet, Ice Lake is generally a June-October venue, because the rest of the time, the trail disappears in the snow. While the men were hiking, they were passed by a local visitor, who runs — literally runs — up the trail and back once a week, to stay in shape.

“Up by the lake, in the sun, it was warm, almost balmy, but you’re never fooled by that,” Steve says. “Once that sun goes down or behind a cloud, you’re reminded of the difference that altitude makes in the temperature.

And no matter how warm it gets in the sun, Steve was not tempted, like Jordan and his friend, to jump in the water and swim

“It wasn’t a very long swim,” Steve remembers.

On the opposite end of the color spectrum, rich oranges and siennas draw the viewer into the moment and the emotion. Evening Waltz, original oil painting by Steve Henderson.

The main thing Steve remembers about Ice Lake, and has put into this painting, is the sense of peace, quiet, solitude and meditation that he experienced in the area. A short way from the lake Steve found a field of granite stones, literally tumbling from the mountainside, which he later painted into a work called Stonework, sold at the 2013 National Western Art Show in Ellensburg, WA.

“There is a sense of sacredness about this place,” Steve says. “It’s not a place where you shout, or play a radio. Rather, you contemplate the light on the water, listen to the silence — and you can listen to silence — and feel the simultaneous warmth of the sunlight and cool of the breeze on your skin.”

In today’s world where hectic reigns, it is important to find, and experience, these places of peace, and if you cannot physically find yourself in one, you can “go” there via a work of fine art, like Shades of Turquoise.

Shades of Turquoise is an original oil painting available for purchase at Steve Henderson Fine Art. Like all of Steve’s paintings, it celebrates life, beauty, joy, hope, and peace. Those five elements are free, yet priceless.

Of course you can write, and the more you do it, the better you get. Grammar Despair talks about those irritating problems we keep having, and forget how to solve. Paperback and digital at Amazon.com.

Very few people can paint, and paint well, but we can all learn to write with competency and clarity. Grammar Despair is a friendly, user-friendly resource that will bring your writing up to speed.

Please contact Carolyn@SteveHendersonFineArt.com for information on Shades of Turquoise or any of Steve Henderson’s original and licensed fine art paintings.

Read more at Start Your Week with Steve.

Check out, also, Steve and Carolyn’s products at Amazon.com:

Live Happily on Less: 52 Ways to Renovate Your Life and Lifestyle (paperback and digital book)

Grammar Despair: Quick, simple solutions to problems like, “Do I say Him and Me or He and I?” (paperback and digital book)

Step by Step Watercolor Success (digital DVD workshop designed for beginning to intermediate watercolor students and artists)

Posted in Art, blogging, books, Business, Culture, Current Events, Daily Life, decor, Encouragement, Family, fine art, frugal living, home, inspirational, interior decorating, Life, Lifestyle, News, newsletter, simple living, Work | Tagged hike, lake, Oregon, peace, Steve Henderson, Turquoise, Wallowa | Leave a comment

Along the Salmon River: The Story of This Painting

Posted on May 6, 2014 by This Woman Writes

All humans have gifts, desires, dreams, abilities, and the need to use them. Along the Salmon River, original oil painting by Steve Henderson.

The story of the painting, Along the Salmon River, by Steve Henderson, at Start Your Week with Steve:

The Pacific Northwest is filled with hidden areas. Years ago, homesteaders with dreams, aspirations, and the willingness to work hard, settled in canyons, along rivers, atop plateaus, and amidst meadows. Some of the these places still exist, as working farms, ranches, or simply residential homes.

But many of these places have been abandoned, with an outbuilding, or a root cellar, or — as in this painting, Along the Salmon River — a barn, the silent reminder of children playing, adults resting after a long day’s work, dogs barking, and livestock grazing.

We never pass these places without wondering, “Who lived here? What did they do? And why did they leave? Where are their descendants now?

“And did they fulfill their dreams?”

Because that’s what the Pacific Northwest is filled with: the dreams of people who came out here for a better life, new opportunities, a chance to be more independent and in control of their future. These desires, and these people, still exist today, as thoroughly modern man and woman look about their cubicle and ask themselves,

“Is this it? Is this all there is to life?

No, my friend, it isn’t. Life is a gift, every breath unexpected and ungenerated by our own power and will. As humans, we are made in the image of our Creator, and the reason we feel frustrated is because, deep within all of us, is a desire to DO something with the life we have been given, to make a difference, somehow.

It’s a big world out there, and we all have a place in it, and valuable work to do. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Dream Catcher, original painting by Steve Henderson, sold; licensed open edition print at Great Big Canvas.

It doesn’t have to be a huge difference, the kind you see propounded in movies. We could grow tomatoes, very good tomatoes that have no spray or chemicals on them, and sell them in the farmer’s market, content to know that we have provided good food to someone, and we did it with the labor of our hands.

But we want to know that there is meaning in what we do, something beyond generating profits for nameless, faceless people who care about us only because we can be part of their corporate business plan. This desire is why Steve paints, and Carolyn writes — we have gifts we have been given, and we want to use them for good.

Part of living well is learning to live with what we have been given. Live Happily on Less, by Carolyn Henderson, shares how she, Steve, and the kids enjoy life with much or little. At Amazon.com.

Along the Salmon River is a reminder of the strength and determination of the human spirit. The barn is abandoned, we know, but the person who built it, and the family who lived there, made an impact in the time and space that they were given.

We honor their hard work, their memory, and their dreams by pursuing our own.

Along the Salmon River is an original oil painting available for purchase at Steve Henderson Fine Art. Like all of Steve’s paintings, it celebrates life, beauty, joy, hope, and peace. There are plenty of people out there painting gloomy art — Steve chooses to use his gift for good.

Read more at Start Your Week with Steve.

Please contact Carolyn@SteveHendersonFineArt.com for information on Along the Salmon River or any of Steve Henderson’s original and licensed fine art paintings.

Check out Steve’s artwork at Steve Henderson Fine Art. Original paintings — licensed open edition prints — Santa and Holiday.

Check out, also, Steve and Carolyn’s products at Amazon.com:

Live Happily on Less: 52 Ways to Renovate Your Life and Lifestyle (paperback and digital book)

Grammar Despair: Quick, simple solutions to problems like, “Do I say Him and Me or He and I?” (paperback and digital book)

Step by Step Watercolor Success (digital DVD workshop designed for beginning to intermediate watercolor students and artists)

Posted in Art, blogging, Business, Culture, Current Events, Daily Life, decor, Encouragement, Faith, Family, finances, fine art, frugal living, home, inspirational, interior decorating, Life, Lifestyle, News, painting, Random, shopping, simple living, success | Tagged dream, homestead, pacific northwest, painting, Salmon River | Leave a comment

Harbor Faire: The Story of This Painting

Posted on April 29, 2014 by This Woman Writes

A sense of gentle nostalgia imbues the air at the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival. Harbor Faire, original oil painting by Steve Henderson, sold.

The story of the painting, Harbor Faire, by Steve Henderson at Start Your Week with Steve:

Even if you don’t own a boat (and we don”t) the annual Wooden Boat Festival of Port Townsend, WA is a magical transportation back to a different time, when sailboats ruled the seas, and moving across the water depended upon wind, weather, and the ability to understand and gauge how they worked together.

One autumn, we gathered up whoever was living in the household at the time (Steve, Carolyn, and three kids), and traveled to the boat show. Port Townsend, a picturesque village any time of the year, arrayed itself in splendor, with more than 300 wooden boat “guests” gliding sedately through and around the harbor.

In contrast to this, military fighter jets tore through the skies in nearby Whidbey Island, where we were staying. During the day, we communed with the gentle sound of breeze dancing across canvas sails; at night, we ignored the roar of modern man.

Steve was unable to stay still, running from one dock to another, camera in hand, snapping reference material to review when we returned to our home, far away from wet and water. A gracious man from a patrol unit offered to take Steve out onto the water, into the midst of all the boats, and absorb the convivial atmosphere of sailors, and their crafts.

Boats or not, the ocean, and being by the sea, leads one to meditate, contemplate, and feel a sense of peace. Catching the Breeze, original oil painting by Steve Henderson, sold. Licensed open edition prints at Great Big Canvas, iCanvasART, and Amazon.com.

Harbor Faire takes place near the end of the day, when the setting sun on a mildly overcast day imbues a hue of sepia over the scene. There is a sense nostalgia, a busy sort of serenity, and peace.

Harbor Faire is sold, but Steve — who is fascinated by sailboats — has other works involving these beautiful craft, like Golden Sea, Golden Opportunity, or Shore Leave, all of which are available as original paintings or licensed open edition prints from Great Big Canvas, Light in the Box, iCanvasART or Amazon.com. Autumn Sail is available as a print.

Please contact Carolyn@SteveHendersonFineArt.com for information on Promenade or any of Steve Henderson’s original and licensed fine art paintings.

Read more at Start Your Week with Steve.

Check out Steve’s artwork at Steve Henderson Fine Art. Original paintings — licensed open edition prints — Santa and Holiday.

Check out, also, Steve and Carolyn’s products at Amazon.com:

Live Happily on Less: 52 Ways to Renovate Your Life and Lifestyle (paperback and digital book)

Grammar Despair: Quick, simple solutions to problems like, “Do I say Him and Me or He and I?” (paperback and digital book)

Step by Step Watercolor Success (digital DVD workshop designed for beginning to intermediate watercolor students and artists)

Posted in Art, blogging, Culture, Current Events, Daily Life, decor, Encouragement, fine art, home, inspirational, interior decorating, Life, Lifestyle, News, painting, Random, shopping, success | Tagged harbor, painting, Port Townsend, sailboat, wooden boat | Leave a comment

Homeland: The Story of This Painting

Posted on April 22, 2014 by This Woman Writes

Home — it’s where we are safe, free, and able to pursue our lives with honor and dignity. Homeland 1, original oil painting by Steve Henderson, sold. Licensed open edition prints at Great Big Canvas, iCanvasART, and Amazon.com.

The story of the painting, Homeland 1, by Steve Henderson, at Start Your Week with Steve:

Some of those old sayings get uttered so much, we no longer hear what they’re saying,

“Home is where the heart is,” is one of them. Perhaps we say it so much because it’s true

For Steve, who has traveled and lived throughout North and South America — on the back of a bicycle, in a bus, on foot — home feels distinctly more so in rural areas. Meadows, trees, grass, an unfettered view of the sky — surrounded by the sights and sounds of nature, Steve is at his happiest

And yet, nature is not in a vacuum, and adding to the depth of these rural areas are the people who live in them. Many of these people derive some or all of their living from the land on which they live, and the time they spend coaxing a grafted fruit tree to “take,” or weeding a garden bed, or clipping chicken wings so that the birds don’t fly into the tomato patch and decimate it, is time spent thinking, observing, breathing in good air, and listening to the subtle sounds of daily life, far from madding crowd.

Many of us have been taught that we will only have open spaces if the government owns the land. This is not true. Good — ordinary — people, living good lives and doing good things, have traditionally been good stewards of the land. Homeland 2, original oil painting by Steve Henderson, sold. Licensed, open edition prints available at Great Big Canvas, iCanvasART, and Amazon.com.

Too often today, the term Homeland is used to express a sense of patriotism to a nation, or to our notion of a nation, but our Homeland is more than rhetoric. Our Homeland is just that, the land where we live — freely, we hope — love our family, grow our gardens, and pursue the gifts and talents we have been given, free from despotic control and regulatory dominance.

Such freedom is not, or ever, to be taken for granted, and if we are to enjoy the Homeland which we have been given to live in, we must be constantly vigilant to maintain and uphold those freedoms.

Land of the free and the brave — this phrase is the right of all people on the entire earth, because all men and women deserve the dignity of living free, and seeking to achieve and maintain that freedom, takes much bravery. Homeland 3, original painting by Steve Henderson, sold. Licensed open edition print at Great Big Canvas, ICanvasART, and Amazon.com.

Homeland 1 is one of a series of three paintings, the originals of which have been sold. They greet visitors of a large medical center, and it is hoped that the serenity and peace they extol comforts the hearts and minds of those who see them.

Homeland 1, as well as Homeland 2 and Homeland 3, are available as licensed, open edition prints at Great Big Canvas, iCanvasART, and Amazon.com.

Please contact Carolyn@SteveHendersonFineArt.com for information on Promenade or any of Steve Henderson’s original and licensed fine art paintings.

Read more at Start Your Week with Steve.

Please contact Carolyn@SteveHendersonFineArt.com for information on Homeland 1 or any of Steve Henderson’s original and licensed fine art paintings.

Check out Steve’s artwork at Steve Henderson Fine Art. Original paintings — licensed open edition prints — Santa and Holiday.

Check out, also, Steve and Carolyn’s products at Amazon.com:

Live Happily on Less: 52 Ways to Renovate Your Life and Lifestyle (paperback and digital book)

Grammar Despair: Quick, simple solutions to problems like, “Do I say Him and Me or He and I?” (paperback and digital book)

Step by Step Watercolor Success (digital DVD workshop designed for beginning to intermediate watercolor students and artists)

Posted in Art, Beauty, blogging, Christian, Current Events, Daily Life, decor, Encouragement, Faith, Family, fine art, gardening, Green, Growth, home, homesteading, inspirational, interior decorating, Life, Lifestyle, News, painting, Random, shopping, simple living | Tagged amazon.com, freedom, homeland, iCanvasART, nature | Leave a comment

Promenade: The Story of This Painting

Posted on April 15, 2014 by This Woman Writes

The beauty of the garden blooms all year long in Promenade, original oil painting by Steve Henderson, sold. Licensed open edition prints at Great Big Canvas and iCanvasART.

The Story of the Painting, Promenade, at Start Your Week with Steve by Steve Henderson Fine Art:

Gardens are good places, whether they consist of vegetables and berries, or masses of flowers. From the beginning of time and the Garden of Eden, humans have been drawn to these oases of foliage, greenery, color, and growth.

The young woman in Promenade is walking through the backyard garden of a close friend of ours. After years of living in an apartment, our friend found herself the owner of a house, and this garden. The previous owner, an inveterate gardener who spent as many waking hours outside as she could, filled the space with flowers and flowering perennials, designed to emerge one after another.

“I had no idea what to expect,” our friend told us. “While I love flowers, I never had the opportunity to work with them before, and beginning in very early spring, things started to bloom. I took photos and showed them to the local extension agent, asking him, ‘What’s this?’ Or I looked through images on the Internet until I found what looked like what was growing in my backyard.

“Many evenings, after work, I sat on the deck and simply absorbed all the color and the growth. This is such a beautiful place.”

The young woman in Promenade walks gently, peacefully through a private paradise. Coyly peeking past the viewer to someone we can’t see, she performs a graceful dance amongst the efflorescence of Nature’s beauty.

Read more at Start Your Week with Steve.

Promenade, the original oil painting, is sold. It is available as a licensed, open edition print at Great Big Canvas and iCanvasART.

Please contact Carolyn@SteveHendersonFineArt.com for information on Promenade or any of Steve Henderson’s original and licensed fine art paintings.

Check out Steve’s artwork at Steve Henderson Fine Art. Original paintings — licensed open edition prints — Santa and Holiday.

For the beginning and intermediate watercolorist, Step by Step Art Success at Amazon.com is a digital workshop that leads to a beautiful finished painting.

Check out, also, Steve and Carolyn’s products at Amazon.com:

Live Happily on Less: 52 Ways to Renovate Your Life and Lifestyle (paperback and digital book)

Grammar Despair: Quick, simple solutions to problems like, “Do I say Him and Me or He and I?” (paperback and digital book)

Step by Step Watercolor Success (digital DVD workshop designed for beginning to intermediate watercolor students and artists)

Posted in Art, Beauty, blogging, Business, Culture, Current Events, Daily Life, decor, Encouragement, Family, fine art, gardening, Green, Growth, home, inspirational, interior decorating, Life, Lifestyle, News, painting, Personal, Random, shopping, simple living, Uncategorized | Tagged Eden, garden, painting, promenade, Steve Henderson | Leave a comment

Field of Dreams — The Story of This Painting

Posted on April 8, 2014 by This Woman Writes

Springtime is a field of dreams for many of us, sharing the promise of the season to come. Field of Dreams, original oil painting by Steve Henderson.

The story of the painting, Field of Dreams, from Start Your Week with Steve of Steve Henderson Fine Art:

Where we live, in the banana belt of Southeastern Washington, spring is here.

A time of change and transition, spring gives us sunlight and warm breezes one moment, and in literally the next moment, driving rain and cold. But on the whole, a sense of hope prevails as new life emerges, trees blossom with promise for summer’s fruit, and the daffodils make their annual grand entrance into society.

Field of Dreams, 36 x 30 original oil on canvas, gallery wrapped, celebrates this sense of wonder, hope, joy and contentment, with a wash of wildflowers beginning in the foreground and extending back into the hills of the background, which blaze coral in the setting sun.

Many wildflowers and herbaceous plants are considered weeds when they’re in a yard, but the countryside embraces all sorts of foliage. Even the humble dandelion has its place and purpose, its roots driving into clay-packed soil and breaking it up for subsequent plants to enjoy.

To some extent, all fields are fields of dreams, because anywhere that plants grow is a place where beauty exists — from the most manicured garden to the unshaped countryside of a field like the one above, life abounds, above and below ground, and it changes and adapts with the seasons.

Happy Spring, everyone.

Contact us at Carolyn@SteveHendersonFineArt.com to discover how you can purchase this painting, or any of Steve’s works. Join Start Your Week with Steve newsletter to keep up with Steve’s works and activity.

Check out Steve’s artwork at Steve Henderson Fine Art. Original paintings — licensed open edition prints — Santa and Holiday.

You can live happily on less and still make fine art a part of your life. Wise living is a manner of making wise choices. Book and Kindle at Amazon.com.

Check out, also, Steve and Carolyn’s products at Amazon.com:

Live Happily on Less: 52 Ways to Renovate Your Life and Lifestyle (paperback and digital book)

Grammar Despair: Quick, simple solutions to problems like, “Do I say Him and Me or He and I?” (paperback and digital book)

Step by Step Watercolor Success (digital DVD workshop designed for beginning to intermediate watercolor students and artists)

Posted in Art, blogging, Culture, Current Events, Daily Life, decor, Encouragement, Family, fine art, frugal living, home, inspirational, interior decorating, Life, Lifestyle, News, saving money, shopping, simple living | Tagged art, Field of Dreams, hope, painting, Steve | Leave a comment

Dancer: The Story of This Painting

Posted on April 1, 2014 by This Woman Writes

Color, light, movement, joy — Dancer incorporates a lot of beauty into a small space. Original oil painting, 12 x 12, by Steve Henderson; licensed open edition print available at iCanvasART.

The story of the painting, Dancer, by Steve Henderson of Steve Henderson Fine Art:

A young woman, in a blur of movement and grace, blends imperceptibly into her background, creating a fusion of representational figure work with an abstract background.

Dancer celebrates life, color, and joy in a 12 x 12 original oil painting that does not limit itself to its gold frame.

“This is an especially fun work,” Steve says. “The brushstrokes are bold and sweeping, and the fabric in the back of the dancer’s dress is indistinguishable from the abstract nature of her surroundings.

“She is either rising from the background or merging into it, and either way you look at it there is a sense of dynamism, mobility, and action.

“Dancer is the perfect name for a work that pulsates energy.”

Dancer is available as an original oil painting, 12 x 12, slightly larger with its gold frame. It is also newly available as a licensed art print at iCanvasART, in various sizes ranging from 12 x 12 to 37 x 37.

A selection of Steve’s work is newly available at iCanvasART as licensed, open edition prints. Shown is Light in the Forest by Steve Henderson

Subscribe to Steve’s newsletter, Start Your Week with Steve, to keep up on Steve and his art.

Check out Steve’s artwork at Steve Henderson Fine Art. Original paintings — licensed open edition prints — Santa and Holiday.

Check out, also, Steve and Carolyn’s products at Amazon.com:

Live Happily on Less: 52 Ways to Renovate Your Life and Lifestyle (paperback and digital book)

Grammar Despair: Quick, simple solutions to problems like, “Do I say Him and Me or He and I?” (paperback and digital book)

Step by Step Watercolor Success (digital DVD workshop designed for beginning to intermediate watercolor students and artists)

Posted in Art, Beauty, blogging, Business, Daily Life, decor, Encouragement, Family, fine art, home, inspirational, interior decorating, Life, Lifestyle, New Year's, Personal, Random, shopping, simple living | Tagged art print, Dancer, forest, iCanvasART, oil painting | Leave a comment

Reflection: The Story of this Painting

Posted on March 25, 2014 by This Woman Writes

The ocean has always been a place where one can lose oneself in play, or thought. Reflection, original oil painting by Steve Henderson; open edition print at Great Big Canvas.

The story of the painting Reflection, by Steve Henderson of Steve Henderson Fine Art:

Reflection is a painting of puns and meditation, playfulness and deep thought. A child — small in both age and actual size on the work — is its central figure, with an adult in the background, deep in thought.

The adult figuratively reflects. The puddle, into which the child is about to leap without any reflection at all, literally mirrors, or reflects, the colors and shapes from the sky above and the looming rocks.

The adult stares out to see, wondering, perhaps, at its very vastness, and comparing the impossibility of crossing it to the sheer challenge of facing life. For the child, it’s not a matter crossing the body of water as it is plunging into the midst of it — but that’s okay, because puddles aren’t as deep as oceans, and she isn’t going to sink.

Which are we — the child, or the adult? Perhaps the best answer is, both. When we grow up, we frequently leave our puddle jumping days behind us, but always, in the very depths of who we are is the child. As we grow into adults and gain in meditative thought and wisdom, we frequently wonder who we really are.

The mountains, as well, are a place for reflection and thought. Lady of the Lake, original oil painting by Steve Henderson; licensed open edition print at Great Big Canvas.

The answer to that is to think back to the child that we once were. That innocent personage, the one who jumped in puddles, never truly leaves us. She, or he, simply gets buried by the issues and concerns of adult life, and in order to find and connect with that essential part of our nature, we spend time in reflection, remembering the days when we jumped in puddles.

We can still jump in puddles, you know. All that will happen is that our feet will get wet.

Reflection is available as an original oil painting, 24 x 30, at Steve Henderson Fine Art. It is gallery wrapped, which means that it is ready to hang without a frame. Reflection is also available as an open edition print at Great Big Canvas.

Read the rest of the newsletter, and subscribe, at Start Your Week with Steve.

Check out Steve’s artwork at Steve Henderson Fine Art. His original paintings are affordable; his licensed open edition prints are even more so; and his Santa and Holiday works spread the joy of Christmas all year round.

We encourage you, also, to check out Steve and Carolyn’s products at Amazon.com:

Live Happily on Less: 52 Ways to Renovate Your Life and Lifestyle (paperback and digital book)

Grammar Despair: Quick, simple solutions to problems like, “Do I say Him and Me or He and I?” (paperback and digital book)