For those who haven't read my past couple blog entries here, the past month has been a tumultuous mess of a major flood in my home, dealing with our landlords to fix the situation, and a string of bizarre subsequent random breakages in-home. I may not have mentioned that last bit before, but there was one instance where Mikey lit up some sage, and immediately a light blew behind us. Like something out of a paranormal activity movie.
I assume it's probably flood-related. The water that poured into our home was extremely hot, and the steam filled the place into every corner. Maybe it even got into the lightbulbs and damaged the filaments. Hard to say. Or maybe it was poltergeist.
In any case, the past few days have been quite different. I made myself an appointment to drop by the George St. Diner (in Toronto) to switch a couple paintings in and out. It had been a long time since I'd stopped by, and I figured it was time to show off a few newer pieces.
So I took these two home:
And brought these two to replace them:
The next day, I get a call from my friend Ash, who owns the diner, that somebody was interested in the sheep painting posted above. I gave her a dollar number, and she said she'd passed it along with my card to the fellow. Hopefully he'd be in touch.
As it would happen, I'd already made plans to meet up with a friend I hadn't seen in a few years at the diner. We grabbed lunch, and Ash popped in fresh from the food terminal near the end of our meal. She asked after the gentleman who she'd passed my card to, and I told her I hadn't heard from him yet. I presumed he felt the price might have been a bit high for him and moved on. Ash gave me a bag of fruit and veggies, a hug, and said, not everyone understands the artistic process.
My friend and I parted ways, and I left to go do some afterschool care for a little fellow I've been working with for a while. By some fun coincidence, he'd just been at the diner the day before, on an annual post-dentist visit.
I get a text while I'm working that the gentleman had returned to purchase the piece. I'm elated about it!
When I got home, I selected another piece to take with me the next day, to replace the one sold from the wall.
Then yesterday, I took it in, effusively thanked the staff. Couldn't stay long, because I had both childcare work and my Black Lab opening that evening to prepare for.
Then, despite the freezing temperatures and blowing snow, many friends came out to celebrate my show at Black Lab. They enjoyed the Wednesday boost, their one slower day of the week, and I got to tour people through my many different mental processes which go into work. And while we were there.... One of my Instagram followers commented on the Cheers painting that they'd had lunch under that piece. They must have been seated nearly immediately after I placed it on the wall! And the recipient of the sheep painting sent me a private message, with a picture of her emulating the face.
It's so cold out now, but I feel really warm and fuzzy inside. Amazing. It's these little things that make me happy.
Lumina.parry@hotmail.co.uk for purchase inquiries and commissions.
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