The "ten a penny" experiment

Dancing pears, 9"×12", Oil on linen panel, April 2011

 The "ten a penny" experiment had been running on my website for about half a year. A varying set of small paintings was offered on very special conditions, designed to break (almost) all financial barriers between a painting and a person who loves it: I accepted the first offer on any painting equal or above the suggested minimum of $25.00 (including free shipping), which basically means I've given my collectors the option to determine the price themselves, whatever they thought adequate and affordable. This is one of 33 paintings sold through this experiment.

The idea for this little experiment in gift economy was originally inspired by Derek Sivers' "Anything you want"; he made me think that in my own small corner of the world-wide web, I can try and organize things any way I want them to be, not like they _are_ everywhere else. There are lots of things I find distinctly uncomfortable about how original paintings find their way from the painter to the collector in the harsh real world; and so I want to try something new and different, and see whether it may possibly work. Here are some further thoughts on why and wherefore of this experiment.

I have tried to renew this experiment on this blog, but it began to feel more and more like some sort of marketing device. Not at all what I intended it to be – but sometimes things take on their own life, defined not by our intentions, but rather by other people's perceptions. So, for the time being, the experiment is close, possibly to emerge again in some other form later on.