you asked - prints and reproductions

ruth asks... do you paint or photograph all your prints or are some computer designed?

a bit of everything, ruth! my prints are a combination of scanned original work, photographs and computer design.

of course i love to paint, so scanning my original paintings is a way to reproduce the work as prints.

i love using my own photographs in prints as well. most of those prints come from sharing an image on social media, then being asked if i can turn the images into a print. once i have used an image for a custom print, i often offer it to my shop for everyone.

my schooling, for the most part, was focused on graphic design. so my love of computer designed work comes from there. a lot of it is mixed between using some of my own paintings as backgrounds or for lettering and being graphic designed. very few of my prints are completely computer generated without any of my hand in the background or lettering.

nina asks... how are the reproductions made (scans, photos)? by you or an outside professional service? where/how/by whom are they printed?

i now do most everything myself. when i first wanted to offer prints, i had my originals photographed and then printed. for the cost, i did not feel like they represented the originals as well as i would like. we don't live in an area with good local printing options. i tried using a few online printing places, but it was difficult to know what i would need in inventory at any given time. so i decided to purchase a scanner and nice printer and just do it all myself!

once i have a painting finished, i scan it. depending on the size, i might have to piece the scans together to get an entire image. i can then match the colors as close as possible to the original.

i can print up to 12x12 and 11x14... which is awesome. i tried a variety of paper and fell in love with the fine art paper i now do my prints on. slightly textured and has a sturdy thickness, with a soft, matte quality to the print.

i have received a lot of great questions, so i will continue to answer a couple in each post. if you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comments below!