Since Mom is long dead, she can’t make any new pieces, and I am waiting for the Portland art scene to realize the value of what I own
My mother achieved some degree of local fame with a series of paintings she did in the 1970s. At the time Portland was not as well known for culture and the arts as it is today, and my mom helped to change that. Her paintings of bridges on the Willamette river became somewhat of a local sensation. Some of them sold for huge amounts of money, and mom basked in the glow of being a local celebrity. I seek to follow in her footsteps, but at this point the art scene in Portland is very crowded. Since her name is my biggest claim to fame, I stay active with the local Portland art museums and galleries. She still carries some weight around here, and I own two dozen of her original pieces, so that gives me a direct connection to Portland art history. I arrange for showings of her pieces in Portland galleries a few times a year, and so far I have resisted the urge to sell any of them. Since Mom is long dead, she can’t make any new pieces, and I am waiting for the Portland art scene to realize the value of what I own. I don’t mean to sound mercenary about this, but these paintings are the only valuable things I own, and they are more valuable in Portland than anywhere else. All I really want to do is smoke cannabis and play video games, but until I can sell these paintings for a lot of money to a Portland art collector, I am struggling to make ends meet.