A story by Leo Gonzales

Image: Untitled by Leo Gonzales

I. A craftsman sells a variety of watercolors through a third-party source and creates a hefty profit upon the first quarter. A dependable amount of friends as well as new clients continue to purchase paintings from word of mouth. The artist looks upon their collection of watercolors and considers what it is and what it surrounds, and chooses to be most happy with a collection with a style that offers a sort of crest. As orders come in and the craftsman’s expertise is honed, they find a comfortable flow of income and they receive check after check, deposit after deposit and a wide variety of cyclical realizations that are almost always honed in at exactly what they’re doing.

II. As practice perfects itself, another niche product, rugs, is thrown into their workshop. The craftsman considers the extent of art; the way you sing, the way actors move and the peace that comes with completion upon a handmade object. Their first rug is created from scratch and it sells the same week it is created. They focus on curly arabesques that fill each corner; interesting collective shapes that surprise the craftsman’s perspective upon a sectioned completion. The rugs begin to coalesce in a pile that create a layer of meaning over a layer of awkwardness and a layer of meaning and a layer of awkwardness, and watercolors are sold at a fair pace.

III. As a sigh passes upon the shipment, the artist decides to walk into an independent movie theater to see the latest mainstream picture. The film is about an artist challenging another artist, and then protecting the artist, and at the end of the film the craftsman requests a refund because the quality wasn’t of their standards so they receive a refund. They return home and continue to watercolor on a rug completed the day before, the newness moving with each brush stroke, and with each stroke the craftsman knows they’re giving the purchaser their energy and with each calm breath they know they’re at risk of giving them their frustration, and toward the lasting of the final painting the craftsman considered that it’s honestly best they don’t continue.

IV. Later the same evening the craftsman recalls a question that was asked by the ticketholder in regards to why the film wasn’t to their standard, and the artist said they didn’t enjoy the quality of the work. They begin creating rugs as the night passes, and the radio static invites an artist to talk about a song they wrote about and their intentions, and an air of honesty fills the craftsman’s room. The craftsman rests their head on a pile of rugs and continues working on the same rug once again, in a better mood and in a better state as they listen to a handful of curated songs from the musician. As the night winds down the artist considers another perspective when gathering frayed strings.

V. As e-sales come in through online notifications, the artist continues to sell more products and in the season of winter it almost feels as if their business never existed in regards to the nothingness of sales. They wonder if they did something wrong, whether their art got stale or whether they should’ve stuck to a more reliable source of income. After resting on one of many rugs atop rugs in no way, the craftsman decided that it was a reliable source of income but only if they were able to keep the idea of winter comfort as strong if not stronger than the idea of their product meaning nothing in an awkward way. And then they considered the unfairness of not having the ability to be a source of outsourcing for another country without fearing a potential loss of income, high taxes.

This work was featured in issue #11