As always- there's a story here. Wanna know the funny thing? I've been posting my art (check my introduceyourself post for my ORIgin story) - every single day to Facebook for over 2,627 days in a row.... Usually I'm so spent from making the art that my caption is "Got a title for my latest painting?". But here...... on #steemit, I'm inspired to write the stories.
Pic first, story later (and another pic at the bottom):
I've been creating a lot of art... but my folks haven't been the most supportive (of art as a career... they are great parents). I got a lot of the comments that most people would expect when pursuing a passion - "You could make more money working at McDonald's!" "Why did you stop with web design? You could have made millions by now if you stayed with it!" -- but that's not where my heart was at.
Occasionally my folks would like a piece, and my dad would give these great compliments such as "Well... most of your art I really don't like... but this one.... this is great!" --- Gee... thanks?
I bounce around a lot.... so my folks haven't visited me in many years- I usually go there. They were finally going to visit me in Austin (where I was living at the time). My hope was that they would finally be proud of my art, so... I made a plan.
To end year 6 of my daily art, I thought I'd honor my parents by ending the year with the above painting, which I made while they were there. I was up for 41 hours at the time I completed it.
This is funny because just the day before they gave me grief "You have to stop being up all night and sleeping in the day!" -- I don't get to sleep until my daily art is completed... which often leaves me going to sleep in the daytime.
When it came to working on their painting however, they did not give me any grief about being up.
I was delirious by the time the painting was done.. It must've been 3 in the afternoon, and they were napping. I showed the painting to a friend via text, and she cried. Good, the painting passes the Sara test... If Sara cries, it's good :) ---
"Show it to them!"
"They are napping. They'll see it when they get up... I tagged them on FB. I need to sleep."
Well, as I was about to turn in, they got up, so I said "Hey, log on to Facebook real quick."
Dad gets on FB and his reaction is very anti-climactic... "Eh, that's kind of a nice painting."
I mutter under my breath "Well, fuck this... I"m going to sleep."
The thing is, my parents don't have so many people on their social media, so they don't disable their phone's notifications from Facebook.... And I tagged them on that piece.... And I DO have thousands of followers on Facebook.
Their phone was blowing up! Every comment, every like, every share.... There were hundreds.
On top of that, all their friends in Israel, all their friends in their neighborhood were messaging them about what an amazing painting this is.
As I took them around Austin, Dad starts asking these passive questions... the closest he could get to begging for the painting. "So... if you were to print that painting, what size would you do it at?" "What do you charge for such a piece?" "You know, if you were to send us this painting, we could do the same pose, in front of it."
He did not know that I sent it to print the second I completed the painting, and it would be ready 3 days later (at 40" x 50").
To celebrate the end of year 6, I popped open a bottle of Cristal which a client had sent me because they loved the painting I made them so much. My parents would never spend $300 on a bottle of champagne. Remember... my plan was to impress them with my art.
The next part of the plan was the next day. I took them to 3 of my collectors' homes. These are nice homes, each with a very different view. These are people that are mature and polite... People that my parents enjoyed spending time with, and would probably befriend if they lived in Austin. These are people that have spent thousands of dollars on my art.
I thought perhaps this would illustrate that this is not a hobby... that people spend good amounts (what dad understands), and that my art is the centerpiece of their homes. The folks enjoyed the day, as I got to see a more personal side of Austin, not just the food and downtown.
The next day I took them for a tour of my print facility. Apparently, I was one of their first clients, so they were happy to give a tour. I also don't think it's something most people ask for.
The last stop on the tour was the packaging and shipping department. I explained that every piece has to be packaged really well, because if a piece is damaged during shipping, it's worse than not sending at all.
"In fact, this place even packs their local pickup prints really well.... Let me show you" - and I took them to the first room we had been in.... but the back part of the room, which they hadn't noticed before.... And from behind a divider I pull out their painting.
Seeing my art on a laptop screen is one thing... Seeing a 40" x 50" painting up close is a completely different experience... and I wish I had filmed their reaction.
The next day they flew home.
The day after that there was a comment on Facebook "Great painting, we are proud of you."
I think it was a whole month without a single snarky comment about getting a real job :)
To this day, they keep telling me every time someone comes over and raves about their painting.