We are just a couple days from June...a month which heralds the beginning of summer, Father's Day and Ron's 65th year-around-the-sun celebration.  If you're in Portland this weekend and want to stop by to toast the old man, give me a shout.  We will kick off his birthday month on Saturday.  Let the wild rumpus begin!

As I mulled over this process, I realized something about my own tastes.  Though I am attracted to vibrant colors and contrast, what really soothes my spirit is more muted, subtle shades and shadows.  Even in my own home, the vibrant interior vibe of my Florida house has softened into a misty, filtered Portland palette.  Because everything here is softer.  Maybe even me.

Pricing art is, well, an art in itself.  There are all kinds of formulas, recommendations and recipes for pricing. By the hour, by the square inch, by the clientele the venue attracts, by three times the frame cost, even by dartboard.  Ultimately, the only price that matters (I argue in my public talks on the business of art) is the price a collector is willing to pay.  And although art collecting can be an emotional experience where pursestrings miraculously open (being a collector myself, I have experienced this first hand!  Falling head over heals for a painting or sculpture and whipping out the credit card), generally buying anything is first influenced by how much we can afford to spend.

Artists are meant to blaze creative trails in the things they create.  So let's blaze a new trail today, shall we?  

One painting at a time, I will begin offering personalized pricing.  What the heck does that mean?  It means collectors will pay shipping ($15 flat rate) plus their choice of prices, ranging from "I'm on a tight budget but I love art" all the way to "I can  support the artist 100% - lucky me!", with some options in between.   Just choose the painting, then choose the price.  A bit radical, but this feels really, really good to my heart.

I'd love to know your thoughts - because your ​ opinion is the only one that truly matters. :)

​This week has been particularly challenging for my inner muse.  Too much reading/listening/watching the news has my edges feeling sharp and pokey.  My spirit feels consternation and worry, sadness and despair.  And this is AFTER efforts to avoid news.  Eee gads.  Imagine if I were diving in and absorbing it all.  Whoa.

Some time ago, a dear friend gave me a copy of John O'Donohue's To Bless the Space Between Us.  Sometimes I just open it up and see what inspiration and wisdom it holds for me.  Today's was a doozy!  Read on:

And so I am wishing you a weekend of "turning aside from it all", as we celebrate mother's day and embrace spring, where everything is new again and we can perhaps "find our way home."

Where I live now is overflowing with expressive individuals.  Truly, there are ZERO RULES OR EXPECTATIONS when it comes to personal style or quirks here in unfettered Portland.  Want a giant glowing medusa head covering the front of your house?  No problem.  A fence made out of old doors?  Ok, sure.  A bicycle tricked out to look (and sound) like Hello Kitty?  Go for it!  Blue purple pink green orange spiked long short shaved braided beaded hair?  Well of course.  It is only just now really beginning to sink in that this is what a non-judgmental society that values individual creative freedom really looks like.

And you, dear reader, creative yourself, are an ambassador of that freedom.  You might even have a LICENSE TO BE WEIRD. (if not, I hereby issue you that license!)  Maybe, just maybe, we can make a little splash in our own lives, being as brave in our personal expression as we are in our art.  And if we were, maybe there would be a little wave...which could gain momentum and grow into a total tidal wave of free style energy in the world.  Imagine that!  We could.  

My intrepid intern, Fiona, says it is time for another reader challenge.  Post a comment about something you'd like to do (even if you maybe can't or likely won't) to express your wild self in the world.  The winner will be selected at random, announced one week from today and receive an original piece of malarkey art in the mail.  Because you​ are my favorite wild thing.  Ready?  GO!

The universe has been broadcasting this theme of courage recently....whether it is the BOLD strategy of artists Carl Stoveland and Shannon Torrence in documenting their determined efforts to land a residency gig, or the unified efforts of American and Mexican artists along the border creating a peace mural on the very wall that divides their countries - these art superheroes inspire me. 

As do YOU, dear reader!  Yes, YOU!  Thank you for being a force of creative nature in the world.  Now go out there and BE YOUR WILD SELF! Pictures would be appreciated. :)