In addition to having time to catch up on my movie watching I've also had plenty of time to read. I love to read and miss it dearly when I'm school. I'm sure in grad school reading is going to take on a whole new meaning. So anyway - I'm reading tons. About 15 minutes ago I finished a book which will probably be in my top five books forever. The book is called "Lottery" and it's by Patricia Wood. There is no description that I could give here that would do it justice. The book is about Perry L. Crandall who has an IQ score of 76 (he reminds us often that 75 is considered "retarded" and he is NOT retarded). Perry wins the Washington State lottery which is worth 12 million. Its a fabulous story that is at times really heartbreaking and at other times will make you laugh completely out loud. I absolutely loved loved loved this book. Go and read it - yes I mean now! Go Go Go!!I met with my commission person today. It went much better than expected. Commissions are tough, but it's my opinion that they are tougher for an abstract artist. When you have people point at something you've done and they say "Can you do that but in blue"? You aren't sure if you should be happy they asked or insulted because they think your work is the kind that just can be reproduced that easily. I try to give people the benefit of the doubt and I like to believe that they don't always know that they are being insulting.
So take all of the pressure that comes with a commission and then add in the fact that the person that is asking you do something is someone you've known for a long time. I had actually put off doing this - he had hinted around that he wanted me to do something but I never took the bait. I made him ask me directly. Basically what happened was he saw something he liked, bid on it on eBay and didn't win. So he sent me the link and wanted to know if I could do something similar with some color changes and also canvas size changes.
My answer was "well, I can try"
And that's what I'm doing. I brought two of the three panels up to him today for him to see. They are both very different on purpose so that he could make decisions on color. He seemed happy, but that's the other thing about doing something for someone you know. No matter how many times you tell them that it's not going to hurt your feelings if they don't like it, I'm not sure if they believe it. The fact is, abstract art isn't for everyone and giving someone and "idea" of what you want isn't always successful. I understand why people try to be nice - but the last thing I want is something hanging on their walls that they don't like or that they feel like they have to hang because I did it.
That being said - I trust this person. I think he'd speak up, I hope he would anyway. We'll see. I'm going to take some pictures later and post them you guys can give me your comments.
