I had an e-mail from a collector the other day, and she wanted to know, “Why all the otters?” She was looking for a farm scene. I have certainly done a few of those in my career, but none recently.
It reminded me of a time several years ago when I was working part time in a high end shop in Carmel. We had some beautiful leather jackets. One day the owner came in with his son who was visiting from out of state. He tried on jacket after jacket until finally, the owner asked me which one I liked the best. I replied, “I like what the customer likes .”
For now, the customers are liking the otters. So I am liking them too. I don’t mean that in a cynical way either. I love what I do. But it is a business. As part of that, I need to paint what the customer is looking for. I love painting enough to throw myself into anything I am asked to do. If I get a commission for a Paris scene or San Francisco Victorian, I get emotionally involved in it. I have to. To spend hours working on a canvas without having a bit of passion for it, would be worse that boring. I’d end up with something that I could not give a customer.
So as the otters are currently, swimming right out of the gallery, so to speak, I am painting otters. And here is the latest. It has a little reference to the amazing new exhibit at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, called, “Tentacles.” But the otters are the best.
