I don’t believe it. Not me. Are you sure? Really? (Grin appears) Which one? Really? Me? You must be mixing up me with someone else. No? Which one? (Grin widens) That one! Gosh! (Strange sensation moves up through body into my head) (Smiling faces looking up at me. Yes, you! Yes!) (Grin now permanent) (Speechless).
I have sold a picture at an exhibition. For the first time. All those exhibitions - and nothing! Other people sold pictures, but not me. Never. Nobody wanted one of my pictures on their wall. Other painters sold strange impressionist swirls of garish paint that I couldn’t understand. But nobody wanted my pictures. Real pictures of boats, scenes, happy people at cafés, at the seaside. Now I was a real painter!
Actually, I had “sold” a picture before. About three years ago, in my art class, I had just finished a watercolour of a boat drawn up on a sun baked beach, white buildings in the background, people playing on the sand in the distance. I rarely do watercolour. I just do them when I get the urge to dash off something quick. A lady’s voice said “I’d like to buy that picture. I’d like it for my house.” “How much do you want for it?” Confusion. Speechless. “I – I don’t know.” “I’ve no idea.” “You can have it.” “No, I must give you something.” Stuttered conversation followed. “I’ll give you a bottle of wine for it then,” she said. “Done!” I said.
The next week I received two bottles of good red wine. The glow I felt was unbelievable. Somebody wanted my painting! The embers of that glow remain within me to this day. I think it will stay with me for ever.
Don’t give up, if you have not sold a painting yet. Keep exhibiting, and at as many different places as you can find. Don’t forget that hospitals and the smaller libraries often display amateur work. Look outside your immediate area. Sooner or later you could be lucky!
Ken Brazier