Persistence Anyway If you need to know something, anything, Ask someone online They will surely have some sort of answer Probably disappointing I sent an email to a friend who as far as I know never showed her work She said only 4% of artists sell their art And usually that dries up She has an MFA and publishes art by others So she should know In her opinion few of that 4% have shelf-life Beyond ten years Perhaps there is a following each of this 4% Gathers as supporters Then, in time they all age and that audience Ages in the usual way Which is to say they die just as the 4% artist Will as well Frankly, isn’t 4% a bit overblown a number Better odds than the Lottery This put me into a gloomy mood and there is Little else I can do Except to head back to the studio and paint For the person I always delight visit Sandy Kinnee.com

Punching In I watched an old movie that took place many years ago. It was before my time, save one familiar element: workers punching in for work, out for lunch, back in after lunch, then back out at the end of the day. The sound of a time stamp on an hourly worker’s time stub. Pick up your timecard from the OUT board, Punch In, Place the card on the IN board. Pick up your card from the IN board, Punch Out, place it in the OUT board. Punch In, Punch Out, Punch In, Punch Out, Punch In, Punch Out, Punch In, Punch Out. It was what hourly workers did to get paid. The checks were always a week later. They weren’t very much, after the deductions. But it was money. Spent already. I recall that the purpose of timecards was to keep a worker honest. There were ways around it, such as punching a friend’s card for them, giving them more hours than they really logged. But never mind that. Making minimum wage and punching a card seemed somehow humiliating. It was just the way it ...