I love it when kids get excited by my work. When a little one drags Mom or Dad into the booth, saying, "Look, a _________!" (Bunny, rooster, possum--you get the idea).
I also like to ask them, "What's your favorite animal?" and watch their eyes get wide when I hold one up, saying, "Like this?" (I swear, the little girl who said "Red Panda" nearly fainted. Still frustrated that Mom didn't buy it for her.)
But every once in a while, one stumps me. And leave me thinking, "Why didn't I think of that?" For example, the eight-year-old boy who said, "Great White Shark."
I mean, they're amazing animals (and terrifying, in equal measure). They've had a grip on the popular imagination since Peter Benchley wrote Jaws--or at least since Steven Spielberg made the movie. They're beautiful, graceful, deadly, and they get their own week every year on cable TV (not to mention horrible, low budget SyFy movies). If I can paint orcas, whales and dolphins on pots, why not sharks? What am I, some sort of mammal chauvinist?
So far, I've only painted Great White Sharks on dessert plates for general sale, though I did just put one on a yarn bowl for a special order. (And I'd really like to hear the story behind that choice.) But if they really catch on?
I'm gonna need a bigger plate.