Walmart's got some great new art...

...it's cheap, it's pretty - and the same print hangs in all your friend's homes now, too....

That's what I thought of when I got this letter from a customer:

"Dear Jai,

I felt the need to write you a separate letter and tell you why I purchased your Power of a Dream rose print. Let me give you a little background first.

I have 3 best friends. We've known each other since high school, and we all still live here. One of the things we all have in common is we all LOVE purple roses. We all collect things with purple roses - and we all decorate with purple roses in some parts of our houses.

About two weeks ago, I went into Walmart to pick up a few things, and I see this lovely print with a purple rose. It was in a gold frame (which turned out to be plastic "wood", btw), and it was cheap. So I'm like - hey, yeah, that will go in my bathroom just perfect! I paid my $20 and took it home and hung it up. Two days later I'm visiting friend #1, and lo and behold, what is hanging in her bedroom? THE SAME DAMN PRINT! She'd seen it at Walmart and picked it up too. Oh but wait, it get's better...

A couple days later, friend #1 and I go to visit friend #2. Friend #3 came along too. I pay a visit to friend #2's facility, and whaddya know - hanging in her bathroom is the same print AGAIN! I go out and mention it to them and we're all talking about how we saw this print at Walmart the same week. Which at this point friend #3 goes to look at it and she comes out laughing...she had ALSO bought the same print and it was hanging up at her house, too!

Now I've always prided myself on having UNIQUE purple rose art and collectibles. Suddenly that was all gone. It had all disappeared in a mere week of Walmart shopping. After that visit I went home and stared at that print in that plastic gold "wood" frame - which kind of ticked me off btw, 'cuz I didn't realize until after I got home with it that it wasn't REAL wood. And at some point, a desire to stand out from the crowd overwhelmed me, and I knew I couldn't keep that print. Up until then, all the collectibles and art I'd purchased had been different than my friends - with the exception of one rose figurine (friend #2 gave each one of us the same figurine one year for Christmas). Now a piece of art is a BIG thing to me - it's bigger and more noticeable, and I personally didn't have a desire to visit my friends and see the exact same art I'd bought hanging on each of their walls. It sort of "killed the thrill" for me, if ya know what I mean!

So I marched back to Walmart with that print and returned it. Then I got online and started looking at purple rose paintings. Somehow I ended up on your Ebay page, and from there I went to your website and saw your purple rose print. I knew that was the one! After the print arrived, I took it to the local craft store and bought a REAL wood frame in gold and had them put it under a black mat. It looks terrific! Just this weekend I ordered another print from another artist I found online. And from now on, I'm going to make the buys for my collection from artists I find on the web. Two of my friends don't even have the internet, and the other one does, but she's hardly ever online. So this assures me that I'll have a better chance of being different with the art I have in my collection. :)

I just wanted to let you know - keep on keepin' on! Those of us out there who want to set ourselves apart from the rest of the world need people like you to keep producing new creative things so we can continue to fill our homes with designs we love, and we can be unique and different while we're doing it. I will never again buy a "mass market" piece of art like that. And at some point I hope to be able to afford to purchase original paintings. This print is amazing and I know the original must be spectacular! Maybe I can even commission you to do a personal painting just for me someday! Hey, a girl can dream, right? Once again, thanks a TON. You've made me a happy camper!

Sincerely,

Sheila B., a purple rose chick through-and-through!

P.S. Friend #2 called earlier and said she took HER print back to the store last night. She wanted to know if you might be doing another purple rose design in the future? Let me know if you do!

PS2 - I ordered some of your coffee note cards from your online shop as well - those are too cool! I'm going to send one to each of my friends - it's totally obvious we need to get together more - especially for SHOPPING! LOL!"

Note from Jai: Yes, I'll be painting more purple roses (as I love them and have painted several of them. I'll get on that after I finish these two poppies and a horse painting I'm working on!