I really like the idea of bartering, alot. If I could live my life based on bartering, I would totally want to give it a go. I would get tired of it quickly, but I would want to just see how far I could get because the idea of it harkens back to olden times, thus is intrigues me.
This past weekend I got an unconventional project from my friend Joe, who just opened Sonny's Bar and Grill, a bar/restaurant in Belmar. As some of you may know, today is the Belmar St. Patty's Day parade. Not surprisingly, this is a big bar day in Belmar. My friend Dave started hydrating last night at about 12am in preparation for his drinking that commenced about 7 minutes ago. Best of luck Dave.
Sonny's still has a big sign over the door that says "Casa Tequila". A new sign is in the works, but they needed something up for today. This is where I came in.
I stopped by Friday night to hang out with a group of friends, was given the banners, and went to work on them Saturday while watching Battlestar Galactica with my usual Saturday crew: Megan, Matt and Ian (guest appearance by Caitlin).
Matt and I discussed a different project for a bit that I will hopefully being working on soon (a pokemon painting for Gaming Chronicles), a new project involving "Man Sins" was born with my brother, Matt, Ian and my cousin Ryan from TN, and then I painted so banners. Karaoke was also partaken of, Plants vs. Zombies was played, and Wawa sandwiches were eaten, a solid day all around
How does battering come into this you ask?
Joe offered to pay me whatever I would charge for the painting of 3 banners. I had no idea how that fit into my pricing model. This was not a normal project.
Also, what if I sucked? This happened with a mural once. I didn't like it but I took the money anyway. I believe the person I completed it for liked it very much, but I'm still very hyper critical of my own art.
So, I was willing to do this as a learning experiment for myself, to see if this was a type of project I would enjoy doing in the future.
I also wanted to to help out Joe, who I have recently become friends with and think is a very kind and cool person. He's also an important friend to people who are extremely important to me. Thus, it seemed disingenuous for me to take payment when they were just starting up.
Then Joe offered me free dinner on Monday. I accepted without hesitation. And a barter was struck. The End.
Come out to Sonny's Bar and Grill today, for the St. Patty's Day Parade Day in Belmar. I won't be there, but you should!
Or another day. It's located on Main Street between 16th and 17th ave. in Belmar NJ.