Ten Dollar Drawings

Long time readers of this blog will remember this post from last winter.

Yours truly went through a rather rough patch, but seems to have emerged on the other side better, faster, stronger (oh, wait, that's not me, that's the Bionic Woman).  Anyhoo...

The hard thing I had to do was testify in a trial.  It brought up painful memories and I was very much struggling.  And that's all I'm going to tell you.

Curiously, about six weeks after my court date, I received a check in the mail from the county in the amount of ten dollars.  For my testimony.  ten dollars.  HAHAHAHAHA.  I would much rather have paid them twenty dollars to NOT receive that check in the mail, but there it is.

I decided I would do something special for myself with this highly symbolic ten dollars.  Of course, you can't do much with ten dollars, but I gave it some critical thought and research and then I stumbled on this.

I sent in my money with my request for a short, chubby, modern owl (my power animal).  This was mid-April.  Two months went by and it occurred to me that I had not received my drawing, so I emailed the artist.  She assured me that she had mailed it "a while ago" (artist style).  There was no tracking number, etc.  I waited.  I stewed.  I fretted.

I gave up hope.

And then last Friday it came.

This very talented artist in Portland will make you a 5 x 7 drawing of whatever you request for ten dollars.  Including shipping.  She does them in charcoal pencils on Trader Joe's paper shopping bags.  I think she does bigger ones (8 x 10) for a higher charge, but the gig is called "ten dollar drawings".

She mailed it on June 1st, but they couldn't read my zip code, so it didn't arrive until July 9th.  From Portland to Seattle.  Go figure.  

I read recently on her site that she is slowing down and may stop altogether the production of these drawings as she really is creating beautiful, original works of art for less than minimum wage.  I can't say I blame her, but I'm very happy I have my drawing.

Yesterday, I framed it in a distressed white wood frame with a lavender mat.  It will hang in my sewing room and it's purpose is to be a daily reminder for me of my own strength, courage, and fortitude.