Not one to regret not going to an outdoor music festival (Austin City Limits is happening right now), I opted for ‘Ditch the Fest’ Fest, where a number of small venues showcased a slew of Austin-based music acts all day.
There was a guy doing portraits at Scoot Inn, and in what we thought was his reject pile was a picture Marcie and I fancied. We stepped closer to take a look at what was lying and hanging around after he was gone from his seat, and after some deliberation, Marcie decided to take the picture and leave a tip in the “tips only” jar.
Later on the artist returned and we sat for a portrait, but not before Marcie let him know she liked one of the rejected portraits and couldn’t find him but left a tip in his jar.
Turns out the pictures were DRYING and we totally stole one that was going to be purchased. All the signs that mentioned “tip only” misguided our assumption. The reality was that you can sit and be drawn and give a tip and later get a digital version of the portrait, or you can pay $20 for the original.
Whoops.
The artist thought the whole thing was great and didn’t make us look any more terrible or less perplexed than his renditions of other subjects out of revenge. Right as we finished, the two mustached gentlemen appeared, asking about the status of their portrait.
They were flattered to find they had a picture worth stealing. It turns out they’re in a band together and are using it for the cover art of their next album. Their music sounds good. I just looked it up for that link above and wouldn’t have linked it if I didn’t have that to say.
There probably would’ve been a Craigslist lost-and-found post about that portrait had we gone home with it, and we probably would have never caught wind of it.
Fueled by guilt, we bought our portrait, even though everyone said Jerry doesn’t look like Jerry, Marcie looks like she’s witnessing something horrific, and I look like Daria.
I think Jerry looks like Spagett.
I still would rather have purchased a picture of strangers than one of ourselves, but hey… the term “conversation piece” exists for a reason.
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