I had an email today from somebody who bought one of my pictures, perhaps the year before last. She said that it gives her delight every day. It certainly gave me delight to hear it. How very kind of her to say so!
It is not often that I hear back from people who have bought my work. Selling is a strange experience, especially if you don’t actually have the opportunity to meet the purchaser. I like to know that my pictures have gone to a good home, and it has felt very unsatisfactory in the past on those occasions when I piece has sold in an exhibition and I have little idea who the purchaser was. Perhaps there is an element of placing one’s child for adoption in this process.
The fine weather is about to break, so I took advantage of my current stalled condition as an artist to begin the process of reconstructing the composting bins. After perhaps fifteen years of service the old ones are in a state of collapse. There is endless interest in the process, which throws up all kinds of little creatures whose existence I didn’t suspect. My sole drawing experience today has been the plan for a new set of bins in preparation for a visit next week to the builder’s merchant. I wonder if I will feel as proprietorial about my bins as a I do about my pictures. I fantasise about selling the house and hearing that the feature which made up the purchaser’s mind was their delight in my compost bins.