Pennies from Heaven

.....lots and lots of pennies, or in this case from SunDance, my wonderful art publishers. Oh my goodness!!!!

You might recall, if you read yesterday's post, that I was to meet them at their office. Curious, but not so much it kept me from painting, I had a quick lunch, changed from my grubby painting clothes, and selected a dress to wear. That is the beauty of dresses, only one choice! In this instance, I chose a dress I'd not worn for quite a while because it has sleeves and during the summer, in spite of my aging arms, you will only find me in sleeveless. Several years ago, I wrote a post about making this dress here. Bruce, meanwhile was at Church Street meeting up with an artist friend of ours who is a glazier in his day job; Dana wants some large pieces of glass that cover stained glass removed to clean them, a job B is not keen on doing solo.

So, that is how the stage was set.

Checking in at the reception desk, I asked to see Sarah, one of the owners. Immediately, she greeted me, grabbing her laptop, she said let's go into the conference room. The laptop, as it turns out was to have Alejandra, who has since moved to NYC to be closer to the art market, join us via Skype. It's a long story, but I'll make it brief, or as brief as I'm able. While living with a girl here in Orlando who owns several of my pieces, she and said girl stopped by my booth one Sunday. She told me she'd only just begun working for an art publisher, and thought my stuff would be a great fit. "Are you interested?" Naturally, I said "yes!" Except I never heard back from her.

Fast forward about six months, and along came Sarah, her husband, and baby in a stroller. As we were taking down our booth at the market, she approached me, and asked pretty much what Alejandra did. Well, wouldn't you know it--Alejandra worked for them!!! Except, being new, she was shy about saying she found an artist, etc. What a wonderful, happy coincidence. It has been so much fun working with them, as they are happy with my penchant for being prolific! I send them all sorts of stuff that I think may fit their market, thus, they have a lot to choose from when clients call.

Some time or other, I sent them this,

which is yet to be used. Whereas, this one,

which I took in 2007 (!) with my baby camera, has now been turned green by their talented staff of graphic artists. I let them do what they want with my images, most of which have languished for years in my photo library. The baskets I use at markets are only so big. :)

Enough already Gail--what happened??? Well Sarah began telling me something I could hardly believe--they had a large order, the biggest single order they have ever had, from Hobby Lobby that was months and months in the making. Incredibly, HL selected 26 of my images to put in their stores which SD printed and shipped!!!!!  One-Sixth of the entire order. Let's put it this way, that sale just about equals what I've sold in my seven years of being out on the streets!!!

So, what do you think I did when she told me? I began sobbing and sobbing, and in fact, I'm teary eyed just writing this! Mine were not the only tears--Alejandra began crying as well! Overwhelmed with gratitude, I just could not quit crying. Through my tears I said, "Oh how I wish Bruce were here because, without his encouragement, not to mention my baby camera, this would have never come to pass!" I can hardly put my emotions into words.....

Eventually I left, carrying a substantial check in my purse. (Ten percent if you are curious.) Fortunately I was driving the Pilot with the blue tooth because after calling Bruce, I called everyone who has helped me along on this journey of re-inventing myself in my 50's.  Later on in the evening I realized that the dress I'd casually selected was made from material I purchased at, you guessed it, Hobby Lobby!

Well then, with that out of the way, what is going on in the kitchen? Or in this case, under the tent B put up for us to work in the driveway.

Final coat of poly on the drawer insides. You might be wondering what was wrong with my old drawers and below might give you a clue.

Terrible photo, taken early this morning in dim light, but you can see the rollers on them which worked very so-so. Plus, they were so grungy, a fact, I'd completely overlooked! Baxter has a speck of paint just below his eye--everyone in the family looks like that!

Bruce, exhausted by two 12 hour work days decided to take a nap on the floor!!

And that is where he stayed for nearly an hour! However, he is in the kitchen as I type, hanging the first upper cabinet door, so that's that for yet another post from Mrs. Camera Crazy.