Fresita

Written March 12th...

It turns out that our experience last summer at Art on the Mesa was not a total "bust". I'd taken a few of my painted pillows as samples and made up business cards for Joyce Moser, Pet Portrait Painter Extraordinaire! LOL! A few people stopped and admired my portrait of Molly and actually took a card. I really never expected to hear from any of the looky-loos, but last fall I received a call from a Santa Barbara woman who'd attended the event and she commissioned me to paint a portrait of her son's dog, Fresita. Amazing!

Now, you might be wondering why I'm just now writing this blog post about something that happened almost five months ago?...Well, that's because I just now finished the portrait! I've determined there are five stages of painting a commissioned portrait and four of them are "paralysis from the fear of failure" and the fifth is "just do it!" For four of the five months I was crippled with the fear of failure and unable to make that first mark. There is nothing more intimidating to me than a blank piece of white paper or, in my case, fabric. If I were paid for every hour of worry that goes into something like this, I'd be wealthy. Instead, my price is fixed so I make an hourly rate that is far less than minimum wage (this is the accountant in me talking...I have the need to quantify everything). Is it worth agonizing for such a pittance? That's yet to be decided and will most likely be determined by the buyer's (Patti S.) response to my painting of Fresita, which I will be delivering this weekend. If she likes it, then I'll be encouraged to do another and then maybe another. At some point in the future I may even be able to bypass the first four stages of painting a commissioned portrait and go directly to the Just Do It phase!

Written March 15th...

"OMG!!!" (not just once, but 20+ times) sums up Patti's response to the painting of Fresita! She was thrilled with it. And I was thrilled with her enthusiastic response to the pillow. That's all I needed to go forward with confidence (fragile, but definitely more confident than I was a few days ago!) and begin another painting.

Season's Beauty

It's called "Season's Beauty"...table runner and placemats designed for use with large patterned fabrics. Fun and quick to make!