Sold - Again!

Sometimes, you paint just for the pure joy of it.

You allow yourself to not think too much, grant yourself the permission to not agonize over the end result, and refrain from over-analyzing design rules and profound compositions, complementing colors and balance of value and shape.

Sometimes, you just paint.

And you have a lot of fun.

And you come up with a painting you actually like quite a bit, because each time you look at it, you go back to that happy feeling.

And, apparently, when you just enjoy creating something, it comes through, hidden between the lines and colors.

Because 3 weeks ago, one of my blog readers browsed through all the artwork on my blog, and picked exactly that one painting, which I did at WackieM's class last April. As she put it, "The one that I like the best is Self Portrait #2. . . I want the feeling I get when I look at it. Fun, light, colorful."

So yesterday I did not paint.

Instead, I befriended my recently-neglected mat cutter and cut a double mat for that painting. I admit I dreaded it (as you may recall, cutting mats is not exactly on my top 5 list of favorite things to do), but in some bizarre and crooked way, it was almost fun. Plus, it always pays when you finally insert the sandwich of mat-painting-backing into the clear plastic bag and allow yourself to breathe, as everything went just fine. No fingerprint on the mat, no crooked cuts - and once you're done, it's looking good!

So today I deposited the package in the skilled hands of the FedEx dude, and entrusted him to ship it to my very new patron: Jeani. Thank you, Jeani! It's hard to describe how encouraging it is to know that something I created has touched you to the extent that you want to own it. It feels great.

And now that I have sold my second painting (the first one went to Blogauthor), I wonder: am I a professional artist yet?