Almost everyone has known the pleasure
of gazing in glass store windows. There is a name for it: “window
shopping”. The allure is in tasting the eye candy without having to
buy. It is a treat to just look and then move on.
My art gallery is in a pedestrian mall
on the central plaza in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Santa Fe is a major
tourist destination in the USA. It is rich in history, is
tri-cultural including Anglo, Hispanic and Native American people, is
free of pollution and sits among mountains, is the state capitol, and
a famous art center.
Boone Gallery advertises my artwork in a
glass display case that is in front of the building on the street
bordering the plaza. It is lit all the time and can be seen round the
clock whenever anyone stops to look.
The other day, July 5th, was
the anniversary of my daughter's death. My assistant worked half the day. I was supposed to go in the afternoon, but did
not have the will to go open up and meet the public. Late in the
afternoon my phone rang. I noticed the phone number was from Virginia
and thought it was an advertiser so did not answer. The next day I
saw that the caller had left a message. Turns out that someone had
been “window shopping”, and wanted to make an appointment to see
my artwork. When I called back, we had a nice chat and I learned that
he liked my art and wanted to see more.
I met the man and his wife at my gallery and they narrowed their choices down to four paintings. The woman left and the man stayed with his friend—deciding. He had a budget and so I offered him a discount for buying more than one. In the end, he bought three.
Window shopping started it all.