The Painting That Sold Once… But Could Have Sold Three Times

I suppose it had to happen one day…

I had recently finished this painting en plein air, painted outside from life at Mawgan Porth Beach, and I loved that it seemed to touch people in such an immediate way.

One lady saw it, connected with it, then went away to check with her husband.

While she was gone, a second lady saw it too and went off to check with someone before buying it.

Then the first lady came back and bought it at Betty’s Surf Store, where my students’ work and my paintings are displayed here in Mawgan Porth.

A few moments later, the second lady returned to buy it too… only to find it had just sold. She was so lovely about it and said she would go to my website to look for another painting instead.

And then, almost at the same time, a third lovely lady bought the same painting online, just as I was taking it off the website.

So this painting sold once… but could very nearly have sold three times within moments.

Three people. One painting. Almost at once.

Thankfully, everyone was absolutely lovely about it. The lady who bought it online was so kind when I explained what had happened, and she has now asked me to paint a commission as a birthday present for a family member instead.

So somehow, in the end, all three people are happy.

But it did make me wonder… what was it about this particular painting that spoke to three different people at almost exactly the same time?

Over the years, I have noticed the strangest things happen with paintings. Some sit quietly for weeks. Some create endless conversations. Some are barely noticed, then someone suddenly walks up and buys them without much discussion at all.

It is almost as though each painting has its own journey, and I am simply waiting for the right person to arrive.

Perhaps a certain day, a certain light, a certain feeling, or something I cannot explain made three people connect with the same image at almost the same moment.

That is the quiet magic of art, I think.

Sometimes a painting is not only the beach, the sea, the cliffs or the sky. Sometimes it holds a feeling, a memory, a piece of Cornwall, or a doorway back to somewhere personal.

Sometimes art reaches the part of us that words cannot quite explain.

A funny little first for me as an artist in Mawgan Porth, Cornwall… and a reminder that paintings really do seem to find their people in the strangest ways.