Commissions are good! They mean I get to paint something that has a definite buyer. They are the opposite of speculation painting.

Contractors build “spec houses”. It means they build a house like the Field of Dreams philosophy, in anticipation of a buyer. (“Spec” is short for speculation, not specifications.)

Very few artists admit to “spec paintings”. However, isn’t that what we are doing when we paint what we want and then schlep it around to various web sites, galleries, shows and shops?

This new painting of the Kaweah Post Office will only be schlepped to the post office to be mailed to a really nice lady from New Jersey.

An oil painting begins its life in a rough manner.

When folks in Tulare County, particularly Three Rivers, have guests, we love to show them our sweet little Post Office up North Fork Drive. It is possibly the smallest operating P.O. in the United States, but that factoid depends on whom is being asked.

Anyhoo, we are proud of our cool little Post Office, even though it is technically in Kaweah and not in Three Rivers.

And thank you for being polite about how sloppy my painting looks when it is young.