It boggles my mind that I get asked the same questions over and over on a daily basis at the flea market.
Most people have been very nice and offer up some great comments and praise in regards to my efforts of painting crab shells. It is very nice to hear kind words and praise. On the other hand.......it does get a bit irritating to get the same, often silly, and ridiculous questions and comments from some people. Over the past four years I have learned to stay focused on my mission and not get too distracted. Most of the pictures of my crab shell artwork here on the blog are of the finished product along with some gratuitous selfies.......hehehe and never of me as I work.
As it happens, on a recent Monday at Hunter's Sale Barn in Cecil County, MD., a guy enters my booth with a very nice camera with an insanely huge telephoto lens. He asked if he could take some pictures of the shells.........and I was okay with that as I get asked that frequently. We talked for a while........chitter chatter....and he then asked if he could take my picture as I was painting a shell. Now this was something I haven't been able to do myself........so I agreed to let him snap some pictures of me. The one stipulation being that he would email me some of the pictures. The photo shown above is one that he emailed me.
I really like the picture.........it speaks volumes..........what is that saying?........"a thousand words"?
I am at peace while I paint and apparently it shows. I go into a zone........where it is just me there.......and.......as shown in the picture, I make effort to address some questions via small plastic frames placed here and there on the tables in front of me. Personally, I have never seen "fake" crab shells........but for some reason the are alot of folks that ask if the shells are "real". Sadly, I can say, without a doubt, that there are people that never read any signs.........and even with these signs placed between me and the people, they still ask the questions. Go figure!
So here are some of the questions and comments I get often..........too often........and sometimes from the same people week to week!:
Are these real crab shells?
Is that real paint?
How long does it take you to paint one?
Can you do tattoos?
Did you have to eat all of them?
You paint these yourself?
"These are ashtrays"
Are you the guy in Hampden?
"Stencils?"
"Decals?"
"Stickers?
"How do you make them so shiny?
Are you an artist?
Did you have to catch all of them?
Where can I get the stickers?
"Sorry, I didn't see the price.....I have an earache."
Can you eat them?
"Sorry, I didn't see the sign.......I had to drive all night."
Where do you get them from?
"Look Harry......he's really painting the painted shells right now!"
Oh well...........there are more..........but I will save those for another day.........
To view more pictures of my work, browse through the archives of posts. The archives are in the column on the right hand side of this page.
