LIKE A CHILD

It was an experiment asking, "Will people buy paintings from an artist (me) if he paints like a ten-year-old?".

As an elementary school art teacher, I know the style well. After being in three art shows these last two weeks the answer is more or less,"No".

Yes, I sold a few but most of my customers were ten. Apparently their parents had given them a little spendin' money.

Maybe I've been around kids too long but part of me enjoys their refusal to follow my directions like, "Stop putting the eyes where the hair should be!".

Despite my instructions, many first graders think of the human form as a smiling potato with stick-like appendages.

Whatever. This year I went with the flow.

Picasso once said, "I wish I could paint like a child again", but if he had he might have gone broke.

By the end of the Gifford Lane Art Show I had sold six ten-dollar paintings and one didgeridoo. Many

people enjoyed playing with my hula-hoops but none of them bought one.

By the end of the day I had made enough money to pay the show's entry fee and buy lunch.

I'm not complaining. Creating these forty pieces on plywood was a joy and the social interactions at these gatherings, priceless.

At the March 18th show several people told me,

"You're booth makes me happy".

And that should be enough.