. . . opened etsy store

Yes, I did. After fooling around for a long time, like eight month or so, I finally took some time yesterday to stock the store. It was nerve-wracking for me to do this. . . all the doubts, all the "I'm not good enough" thoughts. I had a complete block on what to write, how to describe the 12 collages I put on the site. I will relax about this soon, I hope, and I can fine-tune the store as I go along. In the meantime, my store is called The Painted Surface and you can find it here:
thepaintedsurface.etsy.com. I know I'm probably preaching to the choir here, but tell all your friends, relatives, blog followers, and perfect strangers to go to this little store and support my effort to keep making art and avoid looking for a job. If you have any suggestions for improvements, please do tell . . .



My father was the consummate salesman. All the cliches you ever heard, like selling icecubes to Eskimos, were invented to describe him. He was a happy, in fact ebullient, man, totally nonthreatening and engaging. But could he ever wheel and deal. I don't think the man ever went into a store without trying to make a deal with someone. He was always bringing home things he had bargained for. He tried to pass these traits on to me, as I working at his store during my childhood. I was supposed to learn to sell stuff. . . he would always make customers leave with more than they came for. . . but I never really mastered the skill. Of course, his livelihood and that of my mom and all six of us kids depended upon my Dad's ability to sell his goods. And maybe that's what it takes. . . when you have no other choice. So now it's crunch time for me.


The above collage uses some of the same materials as yesterday's collage, including bits of purple paper. The two together really look great. In fact, a number of my collages (maybe nine or twelve), matted and framed identically, would look absolutely stunning in your entry hall or perhaps in your guest bathroom, or maybe your den, library, bedroom. Actually anywhere. How am I doing?