Subject Matter

The Waterbury Fire Department stopped by my house yesterday to check for a gas leak.  Two very large firemen in full gear waited upstairs while the third fireman checked out the basement with a meter. We started talking about my art, since my almost-finished painting of rush hour traffic is on an easel in the living room.

First there was the standard polite compliment. The conversation quickly turned into a friendly debate about subject matter and marketability. When I remarked that I have yet to make any profits from painting, one fireman said the problem was my subject, that there is no beauty in Waterbury and thus there is no market for paintings of Waterbury.

I didn't have any other paintings in the house, so I grabbed my cell phone and showed him the detail of my painting of the Welton Horse fountain, which I have on an iPhone case for just this sort of situation.

Waterbury is full of beauty, but I guess not everyone can see it.