I hate orders

If you know me well, you know I don't do orders. Sure, you want a bunny on a blue mug rather than a pig on a green mug, no problem. But you will be sitting at a craft fair and some old duffer will come along, like he knows everything, and tell you to start making New Hampshire's old man on the mountain. Of course, the dang thing fell off the mountain, but what does this guy know? And invariably he thinks I am the crazy one, because I don't heed his brilliant advice. Or a neighbor comes over and tells you about making a bunch of flower pots to turn into a scarecrow. Makes me want to gag. (stories above, and many others, are true...) BUT, I do listen and consider and I am always polite to people, but rarely are their ideas anything I want to do. Because you see, I am an artiste, and stubborn, and why would I be self-employed if I wanted to sit around and do what other people want me to do? Ideally, I make what I want and put it out there for customers to see, and you know what? I sell 100% of my work. So why would I bother with somebody elses idea? It is also true, and every professional artist will tell you this, you do your best work when you are following your own light, and I have made people's custom orders and they are awkward, and not good so that the customer and I are both unhappy. Besides, I run a production studio, and if I slow down to do somebody's idea, I waste A LOT OF TIME.
OK, that said, as I say, I am always polite and listen to people and consider what they say, because sometimes they may have an idea I find interesting. My old pal Alan was here this weekend and has asked for plaques to use in promoting his 'A Good Beer Blog', the close cousin to his 'Gen x at 40'. http://www.genx40.com/ I thought about it, liked the idea, and here is a photo of the parts that will become a celebratory Beer Blog plaque. This guy owes me, you could say, except he is very nice and generous and this is a very fun idea.