The date was March 17, 2011. It was a cold and clear day in Murphys, California at Murphys Irish Day, at an annual street fair and parade to honor our town’s Irish history. My wife and I had been back from our round the world backpacking trip for three months and without full time employment I found myself with time on my hands to draw again, something, beyond our recent trip, I had done little of since college. After creating a set of souvenir travel prints of three famous peaks in Patagonia, I designed a series in a similar style of the near by breathtaking Yosemite National Park, also featuring three famous peaks. Friends and family began insisting I try selling my art and although I thought nothing would come of it, we had little else going on and on a bit of a whim we decided we’d try to participate in Murphys Irish Day Street Fair.
That day I displayed a total of 8 designs, stacked in layers precariously situated on one folding table. I had done the Yosemite series, The Celebration Series which was inspired by our experience in Munich at Oktoberfest, and a print of an iconic barn in Murphys. I was nervous but hopeful for my first day ever attempting to sell something I had created with my own hands.