This Life I've Chosen - Part II

Or, "Speaking up for all Gypsy Artists" as I dance around my own to-do list! I appreciate a bargain like the next guy. I'm always willing to give discounts for cash cause I don't have to pay a fee for a cash deposit. I'm often flexible on my original pieces at outdoor shows since you are buying directly from me instead of a gallery. But if it's the first showing of that piece I've gotta give it a chance before tossing a big discount in there! This whirlygig adventure begins with spending many hours birthing a painting. Then I'm getting prints and matting or framing or packaging and packing it all up securely and lugging it to a destination show...rain or shine. A few hours after setting up a tent that will withstand the weather, followed by unpacking and arranging and hopefully putting my feet up a few minutes before "showtime" and we're ready for two to three days of feedback from serious collectors, browsers or dog walkers. Some even leave with art! I just hope to grab a few minutes to peruse the work of other artists. At the end of long day, exhaustion is an understatement. But, we get up and do it again the next day. And then we move in reverse. We take down the displays and pack them securely and dismantle the tent and praying it will all go back in the car, hoping you have less product to pack. Then hit the highway home and collapse - after unpacking the car, of course. Up bright and early the next morning (yeah, right) and post the charge transactions, pay the taxes and do the bookwork. Clean up the boxes you tossed stuff into cause you didn't have the energy to organize it and re-group for the next weekend show. And you feel guilty cause you can't find time to get another painting finished so you'll have fresh work at the next show, cause you've gotta take the time to repair the frame you dropped at the last show...not to mention getting the laundry done and the fridge stocked and...well, you know what mean. It's like being on a hamster wheel all the time. I remember when this was just a hobby! The kicker is....I love every backbreaking, belly aching minute of it!