Art will get you fat.

Here’s a fun story...

This is Thu. She's the sweetest.

On vacation last week, I stopped at Thu’s banh mi sandwich stand as I was walking around Hoi An, Vietnam.

The first thing I noticed was that she had the same little twinkle in her eyes that my grandmother did. I also saw that her cart was barren of any signage or decoration. We chatted over a translator app and she told me she has been using this stand for decades and sometimes the flood waters reach above the top.

I asked if I could paint it for her as I stuffed my face with a sandwich and she gave me a thumbs up, smiled and said “OK!” Sometimes, I'll just see a surface and I can instantly see it painted in my mind and I become a little obsessed. This was exactly one of those times.

Over the next three days, I was able to paint and put a sealer coat on as well to keep those floods off my artwork.

And everyday, Thu tried to kill me with her delicious banh mi sandwiches.

I never asked for anything but she just kept making banh mi’s for me and smiling as she handed them over so she could politely watch me.

Older people just feel the need to over-feed younger people.

Maybe you get to a certain age, your hips, knees and back just aren’t what they used to be and you begin to view younger people as a threat.

So their natural defensive response?

Kill them with ridiculously large portions of food.

Or at least disable them for a while with a big-ass meal.

My Nana was the same. If you weren’t chewing something was wrong.

Maybe that was the twinkle in her eye, a killer instinct.

Same as Thu.

I should've seen it coming…

The twinkle in the eye of someone trying to slow down their enemies with chili mayo, insulin spikes and food comas.

I’ve been fortunate enough to have traveled to several places and can affirm that this is a cultural constant across the world.

Internationally, Grandma’s and Aunties have waged war against our waistlines and Thu was no different.
She was a solider.

Everyday, at the front lines, a steady stream of crispy french bread, pate, chili, pickled onions, crispy pork and all sorts of goodness went bellywards into my mouth.

Grandmas are a patient assassin.

I’ve always been what my teachers referred to as “a VERY good eater”, even in college.

Eating was the easy part. The hard part was painting after such a big meal.

Especially in the sun.

Especially in the midday heat and humidity of central Vietnam at the edge of rainy season.

I was struggling, but feeling loved by delicious food (my flow state). And that’s exactly how they want you to feel.

Safe. Well fed, slow moving, deep breaths.

Mouth breaths.

But I survived somehow, finished the painting, threw a seal on it and enjoyed my final delicious sandwich.

I had no intention of eating so well for a painting but that’s just what happened.

There’s just no reasoning with Grandmas...but I will also never put up a fight when someone offers me food for paint. Or whatever else they might offer.

In my Skillshare class on how to get walls to paint this is something I teach and wanted to share an example of how you can leverage your artwork for just about anything.

Many artists struggle with pricing their work, so replacing monies with yummies could be a good way to strike a different kind of deal so you can eat AND continue to develop your creative talents.

But tread carefully when working with anyone over a certain age.

They will relentlessly feed you.

Art just might fatten you up and make you vulnerable to dangerous Grandma’s with twinkling eyes.

If you want to learn more about how to leverage your creative talents to further your art career or just develop a hobby with benefits, than have a look at my class HERE! <------

P.S....NEW CLASS DROPS THIS WEEK! Get your ipads charged and your apple pencil sharpened! <PeaceSign>

Adam

Adam Palmeter

Artist / Comedian / Teacher / Author

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