Rubicon Kind of Excitement

I admit.

I get really excited about little things. A green blade of grass poking through the spring snow. The smell of wet, and the sound of near thunder. The rare occasions when I wake up early. Clever business logos. The color blue. Eggs Benedict. Weekends. Socks. Fruitcake. Sunshine.

Paper.

You're thinking, yeah right. No one gets excited about paper.

You have not met the lady who prints my posters. I can see her now, briskly walking back and forth in the back room, looking for the perfect weight and texture. Her eyes light up when she finds the one. "Look at this one!" she practically bounces, "Isn't that fabulous?! Oh, and I've got this new vellum that you just have to see!" It's so very easy to be happy around happy people.

I may not quite have her enthusiasm for everything printable, but when she showed me her new paper the other day... I fell in love. (no, I am NOT being dramatic.) It's for the Epson printer!!! It's heavy!!! It looks and feels like watercolor paper!!! The texture is amazing!!! It's called Elegance Velvet!!! Be excited!!!

I'd kinda always regretted the fact that my prints are so different from my original paintings. It's almost as if they lost some of their original character and handmade look. They look like the "mass produced" version, as they are. They look shiny and slick. They also have a few glitches, because they were just done on a digital scanner/printer. It's... ooh-kaaayyy.

Then why in the world would I have had them printed that way? What if I did my prints on an Epson printer, amazing quality, with that awesome paper, then what? It would be eight times as expensive, that's why in the world.

But you know what? I'm gonna do it. I'm going to bite the bullet. I'm going to swallow the pill. I'll cross the Rubicon. ... Who am I kidding, this is gonna be WAY BETTER!!!

Oh... wait. What do I do with all that inventory under my bed? All the *really-absolutely-fantastic-but-not-as-fantastic-as-they-could-be* posters, already packaged?

Now, everything in the store is fifty percent off! From today, November 15, through January 15, 2012, get all the prints you've been wanting! Perfect for Christmas gifts! This is exciting!

Whoa. New prints AND a sale? Two exciting things in one blog post? This is crazy. You might feel a little bit dizzy.

Don't worry. This happens a lot with art. The side effects are not permanent.

Usually.