I found myself in a weird spot this morning due to some major overthinking around my current life situation. When I have trouble pulling my head out of my own ass I usually got for a long walk and that clears things up or at least calms the waters. So off I went only to be surprised by an event that I knew was going on but forgot about. There was an art fair taking up a big chunk of my local park and a possibly surprising fact about me, I love those things. Unlike a museum which I really like as well, most of the time when you are in a booth admiring something you are talking to the artist.
Whilst perusing one booth I was really interested in a series of paintings but the dude was a complete dick. I know this because he was yelling at a guy who asked him for a price and he immediately assumed that the dude wanted to haggle so he went full asshole. The potential buyer and his significant other immediately left the vicinity which was shitty because I had the same question and the one they were looking at was roughly the size of the one that caught my eye.
So I figured I should fight fire with fire and I opened up with “you don’t sell shit at these things do you?” He looked me up and down in my SPAM t-shirt and other assorted walking fit and started to formulate a cranky retort when he sighed and just gave up. I am a firm believer in certain paths crossing for a reason and we began to talk as he had scared all of the sane patrons away for the time being.
It turned out that he was not in fact the artist, his girlfriend was but she had recently passed away and they had paid to be a part of this deal and he couldn’t get the money back. Plus her paintings were taking up a large percentage of his home / van and he needed to move some inventory. *probably 10 years my senior and didn’t look like he was flush with cash, so, potentially, futureTom.
The painting that I liked was a beautiful river landscape bordered by what looked like the industrial 80’s and he went on to tell me that she painted it from the van. I mentioned that I am deep down the full time RV lifestyle rabbit hole and we went back and forth on that for quite a while. The painting was expensive and he could tell a little rich for me but he asked his booth neighbor to mind the store for a minute because he wanted to show me the vanhouse. (I really think this was his best closing move for that particular painting)
This thing was a no shit 1981 Chevrolet G20and the pictures I will include are not the actual van because it was the old artist hoarder edition but this from an internet search to give you the gist.
For the record living in something like this is my nightmare. I can’t exist in anything less than a rolling house with a bathroom and that I can stand all the way up in but he seemed to make it work. He turned out to be a great guy I just caught him after being dickered down all morning and he was a tired American.
You might think this story ends with me buying a $450 painting from my new friend but you would be sadly mistaken. I just finished telling you that I’m considering living in an RV for god’s sake. My good deed ended by wishing him well and thanking him for the tour and also telling him to rename the picture I liked to “Living in a Van down by the River.” He didn’t get the SNL reference but I told him it might help it sell.