You've Got to Have Thick Skin

This is one of my favorite "art stories" to tell. Shortly after moving to Wisconsin, my husband and I decided to participate in a local arts and crafts fair (he is a woodworker, and his boxes and small tables sell well at such events). A browser walked up to our space and flipped through my prints. She got sort of a sour look on her face and then announced loudly, "I don't like your cow." My ever so eloquent response was, "Huh?" After a few seconds of recovery, I said, "Ma'am, I don't draw cows. I believe what you are looking at is a bighorn sheep." She replied, "Well! I still don't like it, your drawing is very bad if I thought it was a cow, and I just don't like your work." All, I could say was, "Well, thank you for stopping by to support the arts anyway." Of course I was thinking, Good Lord! I hope she is not like this at every booth!

Now, I could have been upset by this encounter, but instead I made a purposeful decision to be amused instead--plus now I have a great story to tell! It is not my fault if a person doesn't know a cow from a big horn sheep, and in all fairness, I don't think they have bighorns in WI. Also, I am uniquely prepared to deal with people who don't like my work because I live with an engineer!

As a side note, I have only drawn a couple of bighorns. I was inspired to do so after seeing them in the wild in my home state of Wyoming where they are reintroducing themselves to the hill country. They are majestic, powerful creatures, and I hope to get the chance to see more of them in the future.