I'm Confused

There's one thing about eBay that drives me nuts -- just when I think I have things figured out, something happens to confound my theories.

Lately, views to my auctions have been slow. Very slow. For example, my pink passionflower art card only had 22 views and no bids. Last April, a similar card got 85 views and 3 bids. All the eBay experts say October should be better than April, so go figure! So, I'm thinking it's the election, the mess in Iraq, the nice weather, falling house prices, and/or the new TV season. And then I accept the fact that things will be slow for a while and I probably won't sell much -- probably not until mid-December. I also was toying with the idea of removing all the relief prints from my store because they were getting few looks.

Then I turn on my computer and out goes all my thinking. Someone not only bid on the print I have on auction, but also purchased another one out of my store. And then another someone bid on a botanical watercolor which I didn't think had a chance to sell at all. (It's very well done, but it's not showy and is of a rather strange plant.)

So, now I'm totally confused as to what is happening on eBay.

But there's nothing like a few bids to encourage me to get to work. Here's today's painting:

It's another watercolor on handmade paper. This one is of a Gambel's quail, which is the quail species we have around here. They are just hilarious to watch because they follow each other, so if one jumps down here, the next one must jump down here. The floppy top knot doesn't hurt their comic appeal.

I'm rather enjoying doing these watercolor birds. Admittedly, part of the enjoyment is that I figure someone will buy them. But more than that, they are an interesting challenge for me. I've done so many watercolor botanicals that I know pretty much exactly how to do each flower. Doing feathers is a whole 'other problem!

Besides this quail, I also planned out two portraits to work on. One I need a bit more info from the client and the other I just need to transfer the layout to the final paper. So, tomorrow, I'm hoping to do one of the portraits and maybe start on a botanical watercolor (an iris).

Then again, I may turn on my computer and find another surprise from eBay which will confuse my plans again!