On Monday, I walked into Stumptown Coffee and saw some intriguing, very cool paintings. I stared at them. I couldn’t make out the name of the artist; it was penciled lightly in. While waiting for a friend, I sketched a few of the paintings. On Tuesday, I wanted to go back to to find out who the artist was, but got stuck at the office all day. Wednesday I realized Stumptown probably had a Web site that would tell me about current shows, but wasn’t able to grab time to search. Same deal on Thursday. On Friday, I finally checked their Web site. The artist’s name was listed: Jen Corace. I called to ask if the pictures were for sale. They informed me that, yes, they were: they ranged from $150 to $300. My heart leapt: they were not completely out of range. I took a look to see if Jen had a Web site: she does, at www.jencorace.com. It’s very very cool (try visiting in the morning, afternoon and evening -- you'll be greeted with a new intro page each time). In her portfolio section, I saw covers she had illustrated for The Portland Mercury – they were ones I remember really liking – particularly the DIY issue, which I think I saved. Ben called to ask what I wanted to do that night. “Go buy a painting,” I said. “Instead of dinner?” he said. “Sure,” I said. “Will it cost the same amount of money as dinner?” he asked. “Um, if we were going to Genoa.” I replied. After work, I walked down to Stumptown to look at the paintings again, not having seen them since Monday, to figure out if there truly was one that I would want to buy, and how much it was. That's when I saw it: a painting of a boy on a couch reading a book. I love the perspective, I love the red book against the boy’s green shirt, I love the clusters of thin lines on the spine of the book that provide a delicate balance to the color fields in the painting. I walked over to the price list: it was $225. I decided then and there to buy it.

I’ve never regretted a piece of original art I’ve purchased. I have, however, beat myself up over those pieces of art that I should have purchased and didn’t. Sometimes you just know when one is meant for you: seize the day.