I have never seen anyone do that before....

We heard it at least 30 times. "Welllllll......I've never seen anyone try to paint carpet", with a pinch of salty scoffing. Only a pinch. But just enough, every time, to make a girl wonder why originality is such a scary thing to some, and when it quit being a road block or hazard to creativity for others.  Art has certainly made me braver in that area.

This idea wasn't mine alone, of course. It came after a brain-storming session with an art friend about how to get rid of boring carpet. "It's a canvas", she said. And off I go like Alice down the rabbit hole. AND There are chrome sheets on my ceilings and paint on my carpet and wood pallets painted with gold glitter. It's been done before somewhere I bet, but it feels original to me.

"It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation."

If you haven't heard, I've been incredibly blessed lately as Sweet Farmer and I have purchased a building on main street in Roswell, New Mexico and I have leased 3/4 of it out to a co-op gallery and have retained 1000 square feet for my own gallery space and studio. I KNOW!!! I can't believe I just wrote that!!It's true.

It's a canvas. The whole space is just like a new canvas and I am enjoying painting it layer by layer. Of course, I have had lots of help. Like Isaac, this new friend, young and spunky, cool as beans grafitti artist who has helped me paint pinwheels. I wish I had permission to share his story because he has a great story and I'm so glad I met him.

He doesn't think I'm odd. When he heard what I wanted to do with the floor, he says things like, "that's going down hard" and that translates, "wow, I like that". He gets that you have to be brave and do your thing even when people think you're a little too original. But I think artists learn to embrace the fear of doing it different. We've learned to accept failure, uncertainty, and surprise outcomes on some level. We know you can always begin again. But we have to explore the boundaries of creativity. And step over them now and then. 

Speaking of beginning again. This is what was under 60 or 70 years of layers of stucco on the top of the store. Once it was named "Everybody's". And now, many years later it will be a place for everybody to create, share their art, and share their passion.

There are lot of us art geeks out there. Thankfully.