Hello.  It was another day at the cafe today.  Here is what I did...

     This is Table #1, the main table that I paint on.  You can see my palette, brushes, coffee cup, and several examples of napkin art.

     Here is Table #2, at the beginning of a typical cafe session, which can last three or four hours.

     Here are both tables together, during the middle of one of my painting sessions.

     Here is Table #1 again, near the end of my session.

     People pretty much ignore me, and what I am doing in the cafe.  This is not true at the bar, where drunk people are often a little more open.

     I do get bitter, pinched looks from old ladies, who seem to judge and scour over what I am doing.

     I can tell that most people in the cafe don't even have five bucks to make a purchase of one of my pieces, if they were inclined to do so in the first place.

     I don't know why I bother with these people.  It is just that this particular cafe is fantastic to paint in because it is kind of run down, and it has a 'northern light' window, which is the best for painters.

     It is almost as if people fight and strain with themselves to Not look at my art, as if I was Medusa, and my art was poison.

     I have done artwork in this cafe for three years, and 99% of the customers couldn't give a s*** about what I was doing.

     Yet, in this very same cafe, I had a $60 sale a couple of weeks ago.

     I don't know why the people there are so uptight about me and my art.  I don't know what they expect from an artist, or if they even think that I am one.  Or maybe they think I suck.  Or maybe they are preoccupied with themselves.  Or maybe they aren't ready for my art.  Or maybe they are all a bunch of @ssholes, I'm not sure.  Or maybe they think they are better than me as a person, and that my efforts are beneath their notice.  Truck them.

     Yet, I will continue painting in this cafe, and I don't care how long it takes to win them over.  They will get used to me, or live in denial that somebody is doing something pretty cool in a public cafe.
 
 

     It was yet another day at the cafe today; but, it was kind of chilly.
     I did my napkin art thing today again.
     Since I know that a sale can come on any day, at any moment, I always bring my napkin art without fail.  I never know what will happen.  Also, if they don't buy today, maybe they will on another day.  I never know.  I realized that people may be seeing my work for the first time, so it takes people a while to warm up to it.  This is just how people are.
     Sometimes, people will look at my art when I am not sitting there, because people don't know how to introduce themselves anymore, like in the old days.  Oh well.  It's not my problem.

     Meanwhile, the musician next door is playing a Pearl Jam song, and it is really annoying.  I just started writing.
     I don't know why he has to play so loud when he is the only one in there.  Asshole.
     Musicians don't buy my art, because they can't afford it.  A guitarist guy was looking at my art last night, and he was too cool to even say 'hello'.  I would have said something, but I didn't want to deal with his self-important stature as an up-and-coming musician, who will probably never 'make it'.  In the meantime, I guess he will just bang chicks, and tell his friends about it.
     I have other things on my mind these days.

     Here is my napkin art of Moe.  He is my favorite.

     Here is some dopey-looking, happy bird that I painted.

     Here is some more napkin art.

     An older German couple laughed when they saw this one.  It's not easy to make Germans laugh, you know.


 
    

     It was another day today.
     Complete and utter rejection about my napkin art.
     One guy commented early on, but he certainly didn't have it in mind to cough up a lousy five bucks for a piece of original art.  Bastard.  Then he went into some long-winded, old man story, and I don't get paid to be anybody's therapist.
     People fight not to look at my art.  They look at the flyers on the wall, and they text on their portable devices.  They do everything they can to avoid me.
     They are afraid they might like it, and they don't want to deal with anything outside of themselves.
     Mostly, though, people at Muddy Waters cafe don't have any money to spend.  They are dirt poor. 
     So, what I do is just use the time to prepare for the night ahead.
     Also, I've been bringing in a book of 'Great Paintings', and I've been reading it, and using the images as source material.  I enjoy art history, and I like to incorporate paintings from the past into my work.
     The cafe is not a place where you will hear competent English being spoken.  I gave up on that aspect long ago.
     Despite everything I've just written, it is my favorite coffee shop in the city.  They have good coffee, and they let me paint there.  The women are attractive, and they have atrocious art on the wall.  Just my kind of place.
     But yeah, I can only handle about two or three hours of rejection from people about my art, and about me, and then I have to leave.  I'm not going to sit there and paint and be ignored as if I don't exist.  I can do that in my studio.