Painting, n.: The art of protecting flat surfaces from the weather, and exposing them to the critic.

- Ambrose Bierce
Tomorrow morning is the orientation meeting at Trinity for The Artists Among Us show in May. Mary and I will have to be there at 9AM to give dimensions, descriptions and prices for the show. As much as I enjoy presenting, I am not sure anything is truly worth getting up and off by 8:15 on a Saturday morning. But Starbuck's is on the way - always a good carrot in front of my nose.

Of course this would be much simpler if I was a little more organized, and had my works properly photo'd, priced and catalogued as I produce. I am sure there are people who keep such remarkable records - but with me it is a matter of pulling things out of the closets where I have stowed them, and taking the necessary measurements - then computing the sales values. Given the fact my products are assembled from a number of materials and resources, the pricing mechanism is not exactly a simple process - I like to think of it as being rather scientific, but in reality it is more like complex algebra, a subject I was never particularly good with in school. If you have a panel of wood on the side of a car traveling at 30 MPH while you ride blindfolded in the opposite direction on a tricycle at 2MPH and you toss three cans of paint at the wood one after the other, how much would the paint that hits the panel have cost?

Answer; Trick question - depends - had you bought a latte or and Americano at Starbuck's?

Furthermore there is the emotional attachment. I have gotten past my unwillingness to part with each and every piece I complete - although I do still keep detailed photos and diaries on each just in case I might want to re-use a component. But everything I do carries a piece of me in it, in the paint, in the gilding, in the assemblage. So it is hard for me to put a price that does not require the buyer to take out a lien. It is not the Mona Lisa, I have to remind myself, even if it feels like it to me. Which is probably the very reason I should be making production-line art instead of the one-offs that I do. Warhol made millions off of his repeated soup cans and color-tinted photos.

So that may be my next line-up. Icons on Soup Cans. It could work. And I could retail them in grocery stores. Better yet - maybe I can do a line of latte-cups for Starbuck's. Now there's an idea to grow on....