Being of the opinion that if I’d doing a job, I’ll do it to the best of my ability, the last two days have been spent careering around the beautiful surrounding countryside looking for more places to take my artist adverts. Its been a bit like doing a treasure hunt, setting the sat nav to an unknown destination and seeing where it would take me. The strangest was along a long and meandering single track country lane, which did a sharp right angled turn, for me to find a hundred yards afterwards that my way was blocked totally with a solidly substantial and locked five bar gate, so since I couldn’t do a three point, or even a fifteen point, turn, I’d have to back up and reverse into the first field entrance I came to, that was fun! The rest of the visitations were to properties with little sign of anyone being around, so I had to go in search of anyone working there, all of whom were friendly and helpful when I stated my request. It’s like all advertising, you don’t know whether it will be of use, or totally ignored, but if you don’t try, then nothing will happen! All I can do now is sit back and wait. But, I’ll be able to tell from my website stats if there is a surge of interest from this animal portraits advertising campaign. But of course I may get requests of other subjects too.
And just to show that other doors can open from innocuous beginnings, I had a suprising reaction whilst I was sitting drawing quietly last weekend, totally imersed in capturing the nobbles, grooves and branches on an old tree infront of me, as a woman I know a little stopped, and peered down at it, and said “I didn’t know you can draw” and I explained that I am an artist, and the work she had seen hanging on the wall belonged to me. “Oh, I didn’t know that!” she said, then, took me totally by surprise when she said “Can you draw pole dancers?” and I smiled and said I could draw anything, and she explained that she might be needing specific pictures of pole dancers done in a certain style in the future and would I be interested in doing them for her. “Certainly!” I said, and we swapped details.
And this week was been superb, to see the full unadulterated sun again, to see the countryside become more verdant, to see the stupendous Magnolias in full and astonishing boom, to see the buds of the Lilacs forming, and the splash of purple Montbretia tumbling down stone walls. Spring is here at long last, and its a joy to feel the sun on your skin, and shadows over the grass. Whether it lasts into this bank holiday weekend is another matter, but at least its green we’re looking at now! The greys have been depressing.