What's up with that spittoon?

One of the realities of being an artist is that you end up getting asked to donate your work to a lot of various charity silent auctions. I generally enjoy supporting worthy causes, but over the years I've noticed that there is one downside to this process. Namely, it totally sucks to watch your artwork sell for way less than it's worth. This was certainly not the case last weekend, when my wife and I attended the "Champagne and Diamonds" event for Sense of Security, an organization that raises funds for the basic needs for women dealing with breast cancer. I had donated a serving bowl with the "Wally goes to a party and realizes that he is the only one who isn't on anti-depressants and it makes him sad" design, and it was valued at $90.00. To my surprise, there was a lively bidding war and it sold for $175.00. How cool is that? This week I threw some more salad bowls, and they will be in my webstore in about two weeks. So if any of you people out there who missed out on buying the one at "Champagne and Diamonds" happen to be reading this blog, bring your credit card back to my webstore in a couple of weeks.

Undoubtedly the most ambitious item I've ever made for one of these auctions is "The Unsinkable Molly Brown Spittoon", one of the collectable Wallys I featured in last week's blog. I don't know what got into me, but I was totally inspired to make a bizarre work of art for this year's Rocky Mountain PBS auction. I suppose it could have been the lure of seeing my artwork on TV that made me totally knock myself out on this one. And boy was it worth it! I got to see my magnum opus on TV at 3:00 on a Saturday afternoon... woo-hoo! What a thrill. But the problem with this experience was that my assistant and I pissed away well over a day's labor on it and it only sold for $250. It was valued at $500. I guess the process of putting that much energy into one pot was a good experience, and hopefully it's the perfect interior decorating accent for whoever snapped it up at the auction. But next year, I'm going to do something way less ambitious for RMPBS... probably a set of coffee mugs or something. I've posted the pics of this kick-ass ceramic wonder below for your enjoyment. But please... don't ask me to make another one of these ambitious monsters for your next charity auction.