By Janette Turner
Michele Harps knows homes. As a real estate agent, home stager and emerging artist, Harps knows how to create a space that folks want to stay in. Now she is learning the ropes of turning her creativity into a painting career.
As a first-time artist in the Edmonds Arts Festival, Harps hit a home run by getting into the Juried Gallery. “Being in the Edmonds Art Festival is a great opportunity,” she said, laying out the elements that go into selling her art: “(I am setting) up my booth and displaying the art, designing and printing greeting cards, ordering limited edition prints, setting up credit card accounts, creating labels, signs and updating the website.” Harps will be putting all that effort into sales this weekend at the Festival.
Harps started her artistic training as an undergraduate at the University of Washington, where she had the good fortune to study Sumi ink under George Tsutakawa. Her current work features three themes: pop-art flowers, Baja-inspired beach scenes, and large contemporary color washes. The washes developed as a way to pull the colors of a room together in staging.
Harps and her husband, David Watkins, will be manning booth 22 on the Festival’s O’Keefe Street, adjacent to Main Street through Sunday. Stop by to stay hi, and Harps may have just the right piece for your home.
Also seen at the Festival
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