When I was living in Pretoria, South Africa, I exhibited my abstract paintings alongside other hobby artists at the monthly art-in-the-park market. I went for more than a year and I never sold any painting there, but I did get one commission which I remember fondly: a painting for the Fire Engineering department. I must just add here that even though I did not sell anything, I still enjoyed the amicable talks with the other artists (my comrades with brushes) and they had lovely park-style food for sale too, which made the excursion very "palatable" indeed.
I could never understand why engineers in particular were drawn to my abstract style at the time (which is really the truth). Perhaps the complexity of the shapes I used awakened a need in them to solve a problem, like putting out a fire? (My naughty idea!) Be it as it may, let us take courage from this story: we simply do what we do and even though nothing seems to happen, there is always the possibility that someone may like what we do one sunny day. We will just keep at it, like a house on fire until it happens.
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