A good outcome

Sometimes a good idea goes bad. There is a cute store I like and the owner bought my whole line of greeting cards that I created for a wonderful company, Marisol Inc. Years later this lady opened another store and I placed my own line of cards and boxes in the new place. She mentioned that a lovely little children's shop opened down the way and I should show her my kids line. So I did, this is where the good idea gone bad part comes in, she indeed placed a few things in her card rack and I noticed she did not have any gift certificates in her children's store. I mentioned that I could come up with something really cute and that gift certificates would be an excellent addition for the time pressed buyer and kids love to pick out their toys etc. She was very interested and asked me to paint a picture using her logo (elephant on a swing) and if she liked it she would have me make postcards/gift certificates. When she asked what my fee would be, she balked saying she did not really need this item. I thought about it for a minute and said I would own the original and she could use the art and buy the postcards from me. Then I pointed out that she could charge a small price for the full colour card and envelope and it would advertise her shop and she would not be out of pocket on the cards once so many of them sold. I don't normally do this but I thought it would be fun for me to paint , it would be good for her business, plus lots of kids would get these fun gift cards. She agreed and approved the art, the postcards were printed and she bought just enough to cover the printing cost that I laid out. She did not make the job easy and she was not very fun to work with. I was left with over half the inventory and the cute painting. I felt dumb for offering my services to someone that did not get it and really did not appreciate my efforts. I blamed myself , I should have left quickly when she did not want to pay for my services, at the time I thought I was doing something nice.

As luck would have it things always work out. I was asked for a donation of my work for the San Diego Children's Hospital. I was in the middle of a huge project and did not have time to make a painting for the auction. It suddenly occured to me that something good could come out of this fiasco so I made a darling frame for the illustration, mounted up a bunch of the postcards on greeting card stock with envelopes and sent it off to the benefit. This hospital makes a point of not turning away any child, so they need help through fundraising.

The custom framed painting sold as a package with the cards and is hanging in someones home who loves it and the proceeds helped a child.
I always wanted to paint a circus tent (Clown House) so I got what I wanted too!

copyright 2001 go ahead and steal it.