Dec 2020 - I sure hope karma exists!

As I stumble from one day to the next, I always try to be kind. I shop locally at the little shops where I can. I buy food at the supermarket and gift it to the beggar outside the door; I sponsor various people overseas...and likewise, I have people who look out for me, advise me, support me and mentor me in my business. Tell me good books to read, about negotiation and human nature, after all….I am a teacher not a hardened business woman.

Business these coronavirus days are having a hard time, so many are going bust, or just struggling on, hanging by a thread. Even the massive companies are downsizing, laying people off, putting people out of work, placing families on the breadline. Small businesses with all the overheads are struggling to break even. Desperate times. More important than ever to be kind.

But there are some things you just need to put down to experience. Live n learn…..

Obviously not everybody who looks at paintings is arty, knows about the legalities, or even knows about how a painting is created. Obviously lots of people think it must be very easy…..so they don’t want to pay too much. I need to take that as a compliment….I obviously make it look very easy.

So when somebody asks me to copy another artist’s work, I have to explain that you can’t do that. It’s plagiarism, forgery….and is kind of rowned upon. I can do my own version, but I need to change it.

If you have never painted, you wouldn’t know that although the actual canvas might be

relatively cheap, you need to prepare the surface with gesso. Three coats at least. Oil paint in particular is expensive….so the bigger the canvas the more material cost it has before the hours of work and artistry can even begin to be taken into account.

And of course, when you paint you put a little bit of yourself into that painting, or drawing. It feels very personal when it is rejected.

So imagine after putting your heart and soul and lots of time, effort and materials into a project, the person who commissioned you, who stole your precious time then decides actually it’s not good enough, it wasn’t what he had envisioned then it is kind of personal.

And to add insult to injury demands all the money back, so you have lost your time, your energy, materials and kind of enthusiasm for art, and you are out of pocket. And then he repeatedly threatens to denounce you because the colour is not right.

I have faced the painting outwards from the shop. I hope someone will be drawn to it, …..it’s still not finished yet, if I ever muster the energy and will to do so. I think I will offer it to a local charity for auction. Hopefully, karma does exist and it will speak to someone else in this world of the love, creativity, vibrancy and general awe of the world that was in my heart when I first started.

I have found an amazing amount of support from random fb friends, virtual strangers. But my biggest supporters, I have to say have been the people who have known me the longest….school friends from my school days as a child. People who were in awe of this gift that I ,kind of, take for granted. And pupils, children I taught ...some of them 35 years ago, who have grown up into adults who still remember me fondly and who want to support me. Wow! That’s amazing!

An old school friend put it all into perspective for me. He had lost millions of euros in Spain, had over 500 ‘denuncias’ against him, had death threats...yeah! That kind of puts it all into perspective. And he was kind enough to let me know, to chat to me after all these years and help me to keep my chin up. I love his phrase: would the dog worry about it? Because I know that my dog worries only about me, my welfare and where I am if I go away from him. I know this because he shows me, in the way he is overjoyed when I return, even if it was just two minutes to put the rubbish out. How he follows me to the loo, and gets behind my legs, between me and the toilet. 🤭🙄

So, in retrospect I need to tighten up my legalities and keep my dog close at hand.

...Come along karma, kick in soon please