In My Life

In my long, illustrious 'career' I haven't really sold that much art. In fact, after a show I had last year at Art On Texas Gallery, I realized I had sold more pieces in that one show than I probably had in all the years before that. The fact is, I give most of my art away, to family and friends. I'm definitely not doing this for the money or even a tax break. (when your yearly art supplies cost more than your art sales that's not exactly a thriving business). Still, I'm sure with a bit more ambition and an agent I could get some sort of cottage industry going (and NOT by painting cottages, I might add) but then doing it on demand is not as much fun as just stumbling into shows with whatever I have produced.  Still one of my great pleasures is in taking pleasure in my friends enjoying my art. They are my best fan club. And I like the idea that there is a little bit of me everywhere in various parts of the country and even the world. Art makes a great personal gift. To me it's a way of showing my love without getting all mushy. I once even gave a gift and then got it right back. The guy I was dating in the late Seventies wanted to see some of my art. I pulled a stack of drawings and paintings out from under a bed and announced in my usual self-deprecating way that I was getting ready to throw them all away. He grabbed one out, a large watercolour double image of a dancer, and said "Can I keep this?"  Sure, I replied. Later he even cut a mat and made a nice frame for it, so that I saw it through his eyes and realized it wasn't so bad. Even later I married that guy and that painting still hangs over our bed in the same frame. What goes round comes round.