Wall art comes in all shapes, sizes, formats, and editions -- from an original painting to a print to a poster to a greeting card, and the prices vary accordingly.

In the world of prints, there are many factors, but one of the major differences lies between an open edition and limited edition print, although frankly, with the advent of quality print on demand businesses, limited edition prints are struggling to maintain their place in the marketplace.

A limited edition print is so named because its run -- the number of these prints that are created and sold -- is limited to a specific number, say, 200. Each run is determined by size and any other qualifying factors; for instance, you can have a limited edition run of an image in a 12 x 15 size on paper, another run of 16 x 20 on paper, a third run of 12 x 15 on canvas, and so on. If you purchase the 5th print sold in the 12 x 15 on paper run, then somewhere on the print will be written (generally in pencil, since this is difficult to forge) 5/200, which indicates that your print is the 5th piece out of a total of 200 to be created in this particular run.

The print may or may not be signed by the artist (if the artist is alive, it really should be), and if so, will be of increased value. It also may or may not include a Certificate of Authenticity, a piece of paper or form that lists out the run size, the number of your print in the run, and information on inks and paper, and the date that the print was created.

Technology Defined Limited Edition Prints

Limited edition prints came into being because in the earlier technology of printing, a truly limited number of images could be produced from the printing plate before the quality of the print was no longer high, and the plate was then struck, or destroyed. With these type of prints, the lower the number, the higher the quality of print, because this represented a fewer number of times that the plate had been used. As mentioned earlier in this article, because many prints are now being created digitally, this issue of truly limited editions is no longer in place. There is no limit to how many prints can be successfully printed digitally.

If the limited print is still being created "the old fashioned way," by etching, lithograph, letterpress, or other such methods, then the "limited" term truly does mean something, and there is added value to the work by virtue of its number being limited.

Whether or not the limited edition print is digitally or traditionally produced, one that is signed, on archival quality paper using archival quality inks, and accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity will likely cost more than an open edition print (but significantly less than the original painting), simply because it has been in more direct contact with the artist. Sometimes, people buy limited edition prints with an idea that they are an investment, but as with many items, their worth is subject to many things, not the least of which is limited availability, as well the exigencies of the market. There is no guarantee that a limited edition print will be worth as much, or more, as what was paid for it, simply because it is a limited edition print, in the same way that there is no guarantee that an original painting will be worth as much, or more, as what was paid for it.

As with any artwork, if you are going to buy a limited edition print, make sure that it's because you like the artwork, first. To learn more about buying artwork, check out our article, 5 Super Easy Tips for Choosing the Right Artwork for Your Home.

Open Edition Prints Are Affordable

If you opt to purchase an open edition print, you are in good company, and the options for what you can buy are increasing. Open edition prints are a terrific way for people of all budgets to add art to their walls and lives, and it is a major reason why Steve licenses his work to be created as wall art home decor, and why we offer it on our website in our Prints, Gifts, and Cards page and at Steve Henderson Collections. Art belongs in all of our lives, regardless of  income, and open edition prints make fine art a reality for more people. Open edition prints are often  printed on paper or canvas, and the quality of the substrate depends upon the manufacturer creating the print. This is one of those Buyer Beware things, as not all businesses will produce the same quality of product. Look for a reputable company (like Fine Art America, which produces Steve's prints and products), and don't hesitate to contact customer service with questions or concerns.

You can look through, and shop for, Steve's prints, gifts, and cards available through Fine Art America below:

When the Norwegian Artist studied art at the university, his professors urged him and all the rest of the students to "find your style, find your subject matter, and stick with that one thing. You need to be known for a certain size of work, a specific color palette, and one kind of subject matter."

When you're 23 and your professors are in their 50s, it doesn't occur to you to ask back,

"But you don't actually show or sell your work yourself. What makes you think that this way of thinking works?"

When Steve became an illustrator, in order to put food on the family table, he quickly discovered that the ability to create wildly divergent subject matter in multiple color palettes embracing a spectrum of styles was not only an advantage to him as an artist -- a great learning curve for increasing your skills -- but also a requirement of the job. Twenty years of this enabled him to do a lot of experimentation and move forward in his understanding of various media and style.

As a fine artist, he enjoys painting representationalism with an impressionistic flair, but he does not insist that every painting be approached, or handled the same way: only thick paint, or only glazing, or only deep shadows, or only strong contrast -- the subject matter, the size of the work, the mood of the piece dictate the other elements involved in bringing the scene that his artist's eyes see to completion on canvas.

"Artists artificially limit themselves by this outdated -- and probably never valid -- notion that they must be 'known' for a specific style or subject matter," Steve says. "They're not selling flash drives. And come to think of it, even flash drives are coming out in different forms -- I saw one shaped like a bird that looked like a toy that a child would get in a fast food meal."

In the back of his mind, Steve has a half-dozen paintings ready to paint when he finishes the one he is presently painting, and the queue includes figurative, seascape, landscape, still life, with the final result being one of these, or none at all but something completely different, the choice being made, basically, by what he feels like doing.

"If an artist does not feel free to experiment," Steve says, "how will he ever grow? How will he ever discover a technique that brings about an effect he has been searching for? Artists are humans, not machines, and the very nature of humans is that we explore, dare, push limits, and create."

Art is unique among academic disciplines in that no one really knows what it is.

If we were to talk about math the way we talk about art, the musing would look like this:

"Is long division really math? Because math, true math, really gets into algebra and trigonometry, you know, all those equations that enable us to figure out the distance between us and a particular star, or the genetic code, or the molecular structure of a black hole.

"Division and multiplication and adding and subtracting are just the basics that we use to perform true, real, verifiable math. In and of themselves, they are not math."

But of course we don't talk that way, because we know math when we see it (ask any school child).

When it comes to art, however, either everything is art ("Spacial conceptualization of artifice and indemnification" -- the longer the words and the less sense they make together, the more artlike the product they are describing) or lots of things, like illustration, aren't.

Apparently illustration is not art because its primary purpose is to tell a story or outline a concept, and yet, we are often told that true art's purpose is to impart a message or vision. A bit murky, there.

"Art is something you put on your walls, but illustration is what you find in books and magazines." I imagine that Scott Gustafson and James Christiansen's works are on as many walls as they are in books.

I don't know if we'll ever answer the question, "What is Art?" -- it's one of those unanswerables along the lines of "Why do good people suffer?" -- but illustration has its place in the lineup, whether or not it's on the wall, in a magazine, or on the side of a coffee cup.