Thank you for visiting Steve Henderson Fine Art, and if you have found an original painting, signed limited edition print, or poster that you want to make part of your collection, this is a step by step guide to success:

1) Do you have questions about the piece? Please contact us directly at [email protected] and ask. Especially if you are talking about an original, which costs a bit more than a poster, you will want to ensure that you know as much as you can about the work, the artist, and what is involved in getting it to you.

If your purchase is more than $99, we will work with you directly to set up a payment plan, either through PayPal's Buy Now Later Program (generally for purchases of $500 or less); through us directly, or through a combination of the two.

The beauty of PayPal is that you get the item instantly, because your payment situation is processed through your credit card or payment option of choice. When you set up a customized, interest-free payment plan directly through Steve Henderson Fine Art, we accept your regular payments by check or PayPal direct pay via e-mail and hold your painting in the studio until payments are complete.

2) For smaller purchases, or when you are ready to complete the transaction via PayPal and do not need a customized payment plan through our studio, hit the Buy Now Button to take you to PayPal's secure site. You do not need to be a regular user of PayPal to do this -- the site will walk you through your payment options.

3) If, for any reason, you hit the Buy Now Button and you are not taken to a payment option, please contact us at [email protected] and let us know. We do our best to ensure that all the buttons work seamlessly, but we have been known to make mistakes.

4) If you are buying more than one poster, and want us to adjust shipping (because it really doesn't cost much more to ship ten posters than it does 1), please contact us and we will adjust shipping.

5) Shipping on prints and originals is free. Original paintings are sent via UPS 2-day air. Signed limited edition prints are sent UPS ground. Posters are shipped USPS. All items are securely packaged to arrive safe, sound, and in pristine condition. If they're not, let us know and we'll make it right.

6) We do not have a shopping cart option at this time. Clients make individual purchases, and they show up in our records as such. We do, however, ship them together to your central address.

Always remember that you can reach us at [email protected] to answer any question that you may have. Write us, write us, write us. We will not nag you; we will not put you on any mailing list; but we will answer your questions.

Buying Fine Art Directly from the Artist is becoming more prevalent these days, but as with any changes, it takes time for people to figure out how to do it. Five years ago, we never imagined that we would purchase a refrigerator over the Internet, but we found an excellent site with a superior product, and the refrigerator is now in the kitchen, quietly doing its job.

Yes, fine art is different from a household appliance, but in some ways the online purchase process over the Internet is the same: if you're in the market for a refrigerator, you're in the market for a refrigerator, and you have in mind what it is you're looking to buy: a certain style, size, price range, brand, and guarantee.

If you're looking for fine art, you also are considering these factors:

1) A certain style: People who land on and review Steve's website are interested in the type of work he produces -- representational as opposed to abstract, colorful as opposed to somber hued or neutral. They are drawn to certain images again and again because something inside them reacts to those images. Increasingly, people are looking for artwork that generate this visceral feeling, as opposed to the neutral "office ware" that was in vogue in the 20th century. As poople become more confident in expressing who and what they are, they surround themselves with products -- like fine art or refrigerators -- that they like and take pleasure in.

2) Size: Houses and offices come in all shapes and sizes, as do the walls that accommodate the artwork people put there. When you look at a painting on this site, you will find the size, in inches, listed to the left of the image. For example, Grace is 20 x 16 on panel, which is the size of the painting alone, without the frame. Paintings on panel at Steve Henderson Fine Art are always framed, and you can add an estimated 3 inches each side, top and bottom, to make a final size of 26 x 22. Gallery wrapped paintings are ready to hang as is, and they are the size listed. To get an idea of what kind of wall space the painting you're interested in will take up, cut a piece of cardboard or butcher paper to that size and set it on the wall. Remember that the painting will have a depth -- think 2 inches -- that adds to its presence.

3) Price Range: When you buy an appliance, you start at a low, low end, where generally most of us don't stay, and can work up to several thousand dollars. Most of us find a happy place in the middle. In the fine art world, you can get beyond several thousand dollars remarkably quickly, and you don't necessarily get what you pay for. Buy fine art because you like it -- not because you think that you can sell it for 10 times its value 10 years from now, which, quite honestly, most regular people with ordinary looking disposable incomes, generally don't do. We offer our artwork as originals, prints, and posters, so that we can meet various price ranges, and unlike an inexpensive refrigerator, all of our products are of high quality. Our Prices talks about how we price Steve's paintings, and why.

4) Brand: Steve's paintings are Steve's, and his brand is Emotional Realism -- the color that so many people rave about, the emotion generated from that color, his skill with rendering and the ability to capture the human figure, his control of light and shadow, the very subjects he chooses to paint. When you look at one of Steve's paintings, you walk away with a sense of hope, encouragement, inspiration, even joy. That is Steve's brand, as unique as he is.

5) Guarantee: We did not hit the Buy Now Button lightly for our refrigerator, without ensuring that, if it didn't work properly, we would be able to secure immediate customer service and a solution to any problem we encountered. The same goes for fine art -- you want to make sure that the painting arrives on time, in superb condition because it was packaged well, and looking like what you expected to receive. While an image on the screen will never 100 percent replicate the original, and while individual screens do vary, we on our part do everything to ensure that the colors and form of the painting are accurately reproduced, and there are no unpleasant surprises when you unpack your purchase. We work with you before, during, and after the transaction, and we make sure that you're happy with your purchase.

We're always ready to answer your questions, and we encourage you to not hesitate to contact us at [email protected].

I don't know about you, but ten years ago I had difficulty buying anything but a book over the Internet. I mean, what if I bought socks and they didn't fit? (This problem was solved when I started knitting my own socks.) Or shoes? 

And then I started buying things. I started with tea -- I found a reputable tea dealer (Upton Tea, for those of you who are interested), and was ecstatic to find that their product -- in addition to being something I couldn't find locally -- was superb, and their customer service was unparalleled.

From tea we went to all sorts of products, and now, a significant amount of our monthly purchases are made through the Internet.

So what about fine art? Can you successfully purchase it over the Internet?

Given that we sell Steve's paintings over the Internet, I would say, "Yes, definitely, depending from whom you are purchasing." In the same way that I was ecstatic over my tea purveyor's selection, quality, and customer service, we at Steve Henderson Fine Art take seriously these same elements: 

1) We have a wide selection of artwork, in various prices, from which to choose. From originals to limited edition prints to posters, we span the price range and meet any budget.

2) The quality of Steve's work -- both of the actual artwork and the materials upon which it rests -- is superb.

3) We stand behind everything we sell, from a PDF Article Booklet to an original painting.

4) We work as closely with our clients as they wish -- each and every purchase made through the Buy Now Button is inidividually acknowledged, and clients are given detailed information as to when and how their product will be shipped. Many of our clients who purchase originals or limited edition prints communicate with us back and forth via e-mail or phone (and we now have the option to Skype), and we ensure that their questions are answered to their satisfaction -- before, during, and after the sale.

5) For those people who wonder, "Who are you, anyway? How do I know it's safe to buy through the individual artist as opposed to a 'real' gallery?" we willingly provide business and character references. You will not offend us by asking.

As you will see by reading Our Prices, one of the best things about buying directly from the artist -- at least this artist -- is that you do not pay the extra price to cover the gallery's commission, which is frequently 50 percent of the painting's sale price. Buying direct, in this case, really does save money.

Please feel free to contact us anytime at [email protected].

Okay, I’m going to share with you my dirty little secret:

I can’t parallel park a car.

Lots and lots of space -- that's what I need when I parallel park a car. Diaphanous by Steve Henderson

Well, I can parallel park a car as long as I’ve got three blank spaces, in a pinch two, and it helps that I drive a Honda Fit. But for the most part I’m willing to drive blocks out of the way and walk, or slip into a diagonal space, or let the Norwegian Artist drive when we’re in the city and masterfully fit that hunk of metal (the car, not the Norwegian) into the allotted space.

In other words, I compensate for my lack of ability.

Ideally, I would learn how to parallel park, which is what our two youngest teenagers are doing with the Norwegian Artist this year before they take their licensing test, but that would mean hours of practicing with the Norwegian, and I’d really just rather spend the time knitting socks.

Because, compensating works.

It doesn’t always, you know -- if my problem involved driving skills, say, like the inability to make a right turn without banging into the curb, then I’d need to work on things, but if I can get by -- as I have for 35 years -- without parallel parking and I’m not hurting anybody and nobody’s yelling at me -- then I do, and focus my energy on difficult things that I need to learn and I can’t compensate for.

So it is with painting -- some techniques you may never get -- something to do with color or brushwork or the ability to draw hands so that they don’t look like elephant feet -- and you compensate, by never showing hands, for instance.

As long as this works, it works, and you develop your style by compensating around what you cannot do. The key is determining just how important the technique you can’t do is, and making a decision about it.

More on this next week . . .

I know you're probably an artist, but, interestingly, artists are some of our best clients. If you like Steve's work, we've set up a number of affordable ways to make it yours -- our originals are reasonably priced, our signed limited edition prints are archival quality, and our inspirational posters are uber, uber affordable. This is our philosophy on how we price our paintings. Write us -- we answer every e-mail -- [email protected].