This value of this painting is its age and the story that goes with it.

I decided on the spur of the moment, where most of my decisions are made, that portraits would be easy to do in watercolor. So I set up shop on my deck and began to paint. It turned out as well as it did only because I didn't know you're supposed to let watercolors do some magic of their own. That way you get a fresh, spontaneous look, or a 'happy accident' (I did learn to do this later, and I had lots of unhappy accidents.)

Anyway, back to the story.

I entered this painting in an art show, where it had to be juried in. It didn't make it to the main show, because, '...although not a bad painting, it's very ordinary. It's the sort of thing you see all the time.'

It was good enough, though, to make it into the back room at the show - kind of a runner up category.

During the show, Mary Jackson died, and this resulted in the painting being purchased by those who loved her. So there you go. Sometimes paintings aren't good because they're not bad, but because they're special.