A Squirrel Standoff

Squirrel Stand-off

I was pulling out of a parking lot early this morning to find my self Grill to grill will a squirrel.  Looking over the wide hood of my 7,000 lb suburban at this 24oz fur ball, I wondered at his audacity.  All 8” of him barred my way with foolish courage as he waved his tail with aggression.  These fool hardy imps are likely to try acrobatic feats that would challenge the Amazing Yen’s metal and yet, did he really think that he could get me to back down?  He considered the situation and after 2 minutes made an excellent life choice.  Moving on, I was stunned at this small creatures moxie.

I was visiting some friends who do a local farmer’s market every Saturday.  She no longer does shows, she just does this.  I wandered around looking at all the hard working vendors unloading bins and crates, wrestling their tables and displays and put myself in their shoes for a mental minute.  Nope, not for this artist.  I like setting up one day and tearing down the following evening at the earliest.  I prefer 3 day shows because it gives me a day of rest between the strenuous activities of assembly and removal.  Yet, here they all were; putting up more items for those for those 4 short hours than I do for 3 days. They do it on Wednesday for even fewer, 2 ½.

My friend seemed a little daunted at the thought of the distances I go and for some people, I might seem more successful for my fool hardiness to go so many miles.  I compared these vendors this morning to the squirrel and realized that is what all artists travelling the circuit were.  We are all making great decisions of courage to forage our way through this market.  None of this is ever really easy.  Some of my other friends seem to think that there is a moment of discovery like an actor that is the winning the lottery of success.  Nope; we stand up in front of the world, put our work on display and face down the chance of complete failure.  We are the small warriors of the art world, like the squirrel; we stand alone.  Well I do have my family’s support, I bet that squirrel does too.