KETCHUP AND MAYO

“Here comes the sun!”

That Beatle’s song had me singing these words out loud. It’s gonna be a good day, sunshine, since the longest rain streak, we’ve had was finally over and on to another part of the country.

I put on my summer work outfit and packed extra stuff that I always must have in case of mishaps. Being an artist, you must wear things that have seen better days. My art drawer has a collection of shirts or pants with a smudge signature, rip or paint stripes from a job that brings me back in time as a nice reminder of the result. I found my sneakers happily waiting for me, as this bright new commissioned piece had me smiling up a storm. What I have found to create has always blended my favorite skill set and it has been very good! It is not always what you know but who you know.

Crossing paths with people at random moments have led to conversations that opened a new chapter. I now have my own podcast where I am talking a blue streak. This has brought so many positive responses that I am overwhelmed with happiness. People seem to love the title and where I’ve taken it every day, KETCHUP AND MAYO. It is always about blending two very different things to make something unique. I give my dad and his brothers credit for how they collected stuff and repurposed it to fix things and make them work better. That true Yankee vibe never failed. Back in the day, there was not an obvious item for sale to fix whatever was broken. You had to make do with pieces of this and that. Most of the time it worked! I still have a bucket of his treasures to one day make into something he would be happy to see repurposed and shining in a new way.

My art vibe took over more often when I began to look for scrap metal, rusted household items and pieces of wood separated from their original purpose. One of my favorite places to venture was Krinsky’s barn where this old dude’s stuff was packed throughout every square inch of the place. My mind took over as putting this and that together always gave me a mix that resulted in the newest eclectic piece. My fan club was over the top seeing the latest one-shot wonder appear. This has been such an amazing left-hand turn that I opted to take rather than talk myself out of it.

Years ago, I got a job right out of college that had me writing reports for various art projects that needed to be approved by various school committees. They were mundane, since average protocols needed to be followed for a general art degree. This was not who I wanted to be. But I continued treading water in this job until one day, I looked in the mirror and an image seemed to appear that caused me to see a whole new person. I had a different outfit on, a wild hairdo, and was holding odd things. This was my mom telling me to do things her way. She had her own style, knowing more than she let on. Each of us kids had a Kaper chart that never went away even as we got older. The consequence was always a cut in your allowance. My way or the highway. I now recognized the new 'me' in life with art. It will be with stuff no one sees the other side of, but I will always look twice to catch the uniqueness of it to give it a new vibe. If I can see this transformation, then making sure the average person sees the added creative efforts will be my forte in many ways. A clever way to reconfigure items into an art piece will be my new life.

Suddenly, the other side of me told me to stop and to think this through for a while longer. How am I to survive and make a couple of bucks to live on? Could this be a valid career or do I need to go back to the mundane world and just have this as a side job? My art has too often been on the back burner. Other side jobs over time have kept the paintbrushes dry, walls blank and dust everywhere. But I knew as I stared at the empty room it would soon to be a thriving gusto of a blooming wreck!

My cute but small studio space called me this morning to get it together and work some magic. I had a storefront tucked in the village that had been long abandoned. The space above was my living area so up and down was all I needed to get me here and there. This first commissioned piece on the table would be seeing a crisscross of reconfigured junk. Then the paint will see its way at the end to give a shout out with a great mix of colors. The woman, who commented sweetly on my podcast, wanted a gift for her daughter and she gave me a bunch of ideas that would work. Colorful flowers would be set up in the ground outside on her farm next to a garden bed. Adding my scrap metal would anchor and blend the design. This was as easy as pie, since gardening was my second-best way to spread an art theme.

Gathering random shapes, then laying out the chosen scraps of metal, a design showed up ready to be made. I took a breath, picked up my tool and the skill saw blazed away with just enough curves to pause, rethink and edge the size. Rusted parts of the metal added a perfect blend. Hand tools used to detail it up had a vision of my dad coming back to see this through it all. He taught this young one how to know the many ways to work my hands. Pieces were etched, bent and twisted together as the flowers became real. I paused for a moment to reflect on the images. My design was finished and ready to be planted, so to speak! I heard a pickup truck stop and park curbside right outside the shop.

I put my tools down and took a moment to greet whoever was there. A woman near my age stepped out of the truck as I came out the door. I had no posted sign yet, but many already knew the area where I was in town. “Can I help you?” She gave me a short wave and called out. “Good morning! I heard from your neighbors that you might have a variety of condiments available for purchase?” My face went blank for a minute. Then she quickly laughed, shook her head, and held out her hand.

“Sorry! I was just having a fun moment.” Then I got it. She knew my business name, KETCHUP AND MAYO. “I really like the name you picked. It is so unique!” We shared a few moments in a nice relaxing way to feel each other out. It was the woman who commissioned my work for her daughter. I was happy to show her my progress into the first finished piece and asked her to follow me inside. As we approached the table displaying my efforts, her comments were very heartfelt and over the top with a generous tribute to my style. “This has already made my day!” I smiled and we chatted about more designs for the future, and she agreed this was not to end.

“This will be a great surprise that gives me hope for my daughter to display more art.” The two of us carried the piece to her truck. A blanket was used to wrap the floral art decor as we laid it down in the back. She handed me an agreed amount of money, and I gave her my contact information. The last comment before she left was, “Be prepared!” And with the best words an artist could ever hear she said, “This is just the beginning. I see your work bringing a new light in many ways to areas needing a fresh start!” Her goodbye wave was priceless.

With this new positive start, I paused and said out loud, “COFFEE!” A fancy cup was calling me to celebrate, so I grabbed my purse, locked my studio and headed to my favorite brew spot. As I walked down the sidewalk, there seemed to be a group of people on both sides in front of the coffee shop. That’s odd. Were they protesting something? As I got closer, people recognized me and for some unknown reason they all stopped and waved then cheered. My name was on a sign wishing me success with ART. I was so surprised when I saw this and then all along the sidewalk there were hundreds of donated jars of ketchup and mayonnaise.

The woman who commissioned my art spoke loudly through the cheering and gave a positive shout out. Everyone was happy to see me as I came forward and they all wished me success with more good work. My eyes were teary, but I was so happy with this unique surprise.

“I have one more tribute to give to this great artist.” Everyone paused then clapped when she added, “The condiment jars of what you see is just a reminder for all of us to treasure the simple things in life that bring us joy!”