The Skeeter Daddle Diaries

Right about quittin time a friend dropped by for our weekly beer and pow-wow, a routine we’ve maintained for the past dozen years or so. Second beer in, he launched into a familiar lament where he thinks maybe he ought to take up his art again to supplement his day job, the one he can’t give up since he never paid into Social Security, just got paid under the table, a tactic too many of us on the South End employ, no pun intended.

And as usual I say sure, sounds like a good idea, just not sure about the supplemental income part. He sees what the Gallery up the road charges for an oil painting and he figures he’d get the same thing, ignoring the inconsequential detail that he’s starting from scratch, got no name recognition and hasn’t picked up a brush in over 50 years. Other than that he’ll probably be rich by a year from now, quit his handyman work and retire to Hawaii. A man has to dream, doesn’t he?

In the course of this fantasy he says he just doesn’t seem to have the motivation yet, not sure why, but he’s not getting any younger at 78, probably should get going before it’s too late. Maybe a better pal would tell him the Iceman isn’t coming, the dream is stillborn, you’re kidding yourself, nobody’s going to buy your stuff, wake up, get real. What I do tell him is that if you want to paint, then paint, forget about making money, do it for the joy of it, make art for yourself and maybe, who knows, maybe you’ll catch lightning in a jar, your work will sell and you might be the next Big Thing. Just don’t bet the farm on it.

I had a neighbor bring her grandson over last week, a highly artistic kid, she claimed proudly, to see my workshop, maybe inspire the lad to fire up or maybe just quit after a tour around my shack turned studio. They stayed maybe 5 minutes, thanked me for the visit, well, she did, then at the door asked me if I had any advice for this young Picasso of hers. I said I did. “Don’t go into debt.”

What I regret is not telling him to get a part time job and pay into Social Security so you won’t be working into your 90’s. Might give you time to do your art, art you wouldn’t have to do for money.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 2nd, 2025 at 12:21 am and is filed under rantings and ravings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.