Funny e-mail arrived here today - not funny ha ha, but funny odd, To cut a long story short, the note was from a man who'd visited my studio, and admired the work on display ; which is priced from £375 (for studies painted on demonstrations) to several thousand - for big complex traditional oils. My pictures sell well at these prices, and like most self employed people I'm always happy to flex them a bit as money isn't everything - just a means of paying the bills. After being complementary about my work the note asks 'what can I do for thirty five quid', then qualifies this by saying the picture only needs to be 6x8 inches and that it's for a Christmas present. It does need to be a view of the marshes about 10 miles from my gallery though. So what do we painters do with stuff like this? Ignore it? I can't it's for a Christmas present, and an image of the gentleman putting off a purchase whilst awaiting my reply,means I have to write back. Take the £35 and be glad of it?Setting aside the fact, I need to many times that every week to pay for my studio and practice it wouldn't cover my time and petrol let alone anything to paint on or with. The truth is that it's as difficult in many ways to paint a good 6x8 inch panel as painting a 40, 60 or 120 inch canvas; the difference is merely in scale - not aptitude, practice, experience or imagination. I think it was Somerset Maughm who finished a long letter with the note that if 'he'd have had more time he'd have written a postcard'