I came into this
world as Kristine Johansen, the fifth of six girls that
were a source of humor and pride to my father. He was the
son of a Norwegian fisherman and the daughter of the
lighthouse keeper at Mukilteo, on the coast of Washington
State. At 20, he married my mother, also from Mukilteo. We
lived on the coast until I was 6 years old when the family
moved to Ritzville, a small, irrigated desert town sixty
miles south of Spokane.
Traveling much
of the time between Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana
in his job as a hardware representative, he found Ritzville
a convenient and centralized place to visit his family. He
was on the verge of successfully transitioning to fulltime
employment as a free-lance photographer, his longtime
avocation, when he died unexpectedly at 49, leaving my
overburdened, but very loving mother to finish raising her
daughters alone. I was 17.
I idolized my eldest sister Dona. Her talent as an artist
had been recognized from kindergarten on. She once took me
on a sketching excursion to the municipal airport where I
marveled at her skill in rendering a crumpled small
airplane. On another occasion I helped her dig up worms
that she dipped in paint and placed upon a canvas in the
back yard. Her creative genius was thwarted when they
ceased to move. I have always enjoyed drawing and am
happiest when making things. I find that along with a
sincere joy in creation, I have imagination, determination,
and stamina.
I graduated from high school in 1969, with no goal other
than a longing to see something of the world. I found a job
at a four star hotel in Hamburg, Germany and in an act of
bravery that astonishes me today, set forth by myself to
that city of several million people. Over the next eight
years I worked odd jobs in Düsseldorf, Frankfort, Hartford,
Austin, Miami, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic. My
mother and five of my sisters were living in Spokane where
I returned to attend Spokane Falls Community College. After
two years I received my Associated Arts degree.
Every year as a child we would leave the flat, dusty wheat
fields of Ritzville behind and make the trek over the
mountains to visit relatives on Mercer Island. The wet,
green, mossy hillsides were intensely sensual and
fascinating, reawakening early memories of Lake Washington,
and bringing to life the black and white photos of my
parents, grandparents and family, always set against the
backdrop of Puget Sound. After a visit to Seattle with
friends, I decided to make the city my home. I was
attending classes at Seattle Central Community College when
I met Ron Henshaw. We were married three weeks after our
first date and have been living happily ever after for
almost thirty years now.
We moved to Bainbridge Island on Puget Sound to begin our
life together. Ron shared with me his love of nature
acquired growing up on this island where his father had
been born. Believing in my talent, he encouraged me to take
my love of art seriously. Over the years we moved back and
forth from Seattle to Kitsap Peninsula, working mostly
part-time jobs as I continued to pursue art skills.
I have always enjoyed doing studies after the masters and
reading about them. The lessons I have learned from artists
ranging from Raphael and Dürer, to Lautrec and Picasso have
been invaluable to my development as an artist. In 1997, I
enrolled at the Academy of
Realist Art (now
Gage
Academy) where I
studied full-time for two years with renowned artists such
as Gary Faigan and Tony Ryder. I felt like a sponge,
soaking up an artistic tradition passed down from teacher
to student through the history of art. I am very grateful.
I delight in painting the spectacular beauty of my home
state. I see my “plein air” oil paintings as a resting
place in the tumultuous waters of life. The love of nature
is a legacy I inherited from my parents and which I have
explored richly with my husband.
After attending several workshops in decorative painting
and plastering techniques, in 2000, I acquired a bond and a
business license and began Henshaw
Murals and Fine Art, a compromise
between my goal of being an artist and my need to make a
living. Working exclusively with designers, together with
my husband Ron, we have created a body of work enhancing
many beautiful homes and commercial properties in the
greater Seattle area. We recently were Seattle
Magazine’s top pick for our
field.
Portraiture is a new and exciting direction for me. About a
year ago, with the downward trend in the economy, our
workload stopped like the turning off a faucet. Since that
time we have been making adjustments to find ways to
continue generating income from a clientele with
significantly less money for things like artwork. By
painting portraits from photographs I am filling a niche
for affordable portraiture that I find very satisfying. I
am delighted to have found a way to make my art accessible
and useful to a wide range of people.
I am also doing alla
prima portrait
painting, done in a single sitting that I call “Quick Draw”
portraits. The fast pace of these portraits keeps me on my
toes and allows me to be completely open to my subject. The
ten years painting murals, requiring speed, efficiency and
no room for error, has been invaluable training. My style
of portraiture is fresh by necessity. The twenty-minute
goal, as set by my custom-made hourglass, results in a
loose, spontaneous, expressionist style. I feel the result
reflects the casual lifestyle of our contemporary culture.
I believe in telling the “sweet truth.” We all have beauty
in us and I am saddened when I hear someone say they are
too old or unattractive to have themselves “immortalized in
art.” I find it is possible to indicate age and character
without drawing attention to wrinkles and blemishes. As
those of us who are not photogenic know, a photograph can
be very unkind and does not really tell the truth.
The artistic standards I set for myself have always been
high. I enjoy the process of art and continue to be
entertained, and challenged by ever increasing goals.
Kristine Henshaw
