Canada Post went on strike yesterday, which is just what every small business wanted to hear as holiday shopping gets going. Since courier shipping and pricing aren’t viable alternatives for anybody but Amazon, that will hurt many businesses.
The good news is, that the flurry of recent calendar and print sales have been filled and likely delivered already. If you haven’t received orders in the United States yet, there shouldn’t be a delay as they would have made it over the border by now.
I only had one order to get out when they announced the strike, and I offered that customer a refund because who knows how long this will last? It could be a few days or a month.
Unfortunately, even if this strike is short-lived, there will be a backlog to get through, which means that at a time when there’s already a seasonal delay, it’s about to get worse.
As a result, I’ve had to suspend orders and sales in my online store temporarily.
On a positive note, I set up my booth for the Banff Christmas Market yesterday, and the new venue at the Banff Train Station is beautiful. The organizers did a great job. Even though Warner Stables was a lovely setting, I prefer this new location.
My next door neighbour this year for the next four weekends is the same as last year. We get along great and have a good time, which always makes for a better show. They were nearby at the Calgary Expo as well. You see the same vendors at many of these shows, and there’s a nice sense of community.
Even though the first evening was only a four-hour preview, we were all pleasantly surprised at how busy it was. I figured it would be a tire-kicker kind of evening, but traffic was steady, and sales were great.
Thanks to subscribers who came to get a calendar in person, many who bought stickers, magnets, coasters and prints to go with it. It’s a humbling experience to hear in person that you enjoy the emails and my whimsical wildlife artwork. I love seeing the same people at different events, year after year, and meeting many of you person for the first time, hearing that you’ve been reading my emails for a while. You all say such nice things about the work, and I greatly appreciate your support.
I look forward to seeing more of you over the next four weeks—back to Banff this morning.
Cheers,
Patrick
With a website and 
If your art becomes popular enough that people like it, share it and buy it, somebody will steal it. Some creatives stamp ugly watermarks across every image they post to try to combat this, but what’s the point if you need to go that far?
Several years ago, my friend Kathryn alerted me to a woman on Vancouver Island using my Otter painting as the logo for her business. It was on her business cards, a sidewalk sandwich board, window decals and advertising. When I called the owner on it, she said she Googled ‘royalty-free images’ and my otter came up. I asked if Mickey Mouse had come up in that search, would she think Disney would allow her to use him as her logo? My signature is still on the image on that sign! She angrily told me I was being unreasonable and said if I had been nicer, we could have come to an arrangement.
Another company in the same area had my Moose and Grizzly Bear paintings on their chocolate-covered candy labels sold in a local store. The company’s owner in Eastern Canada said they’d hired a graphic designer to make the labels. He just stole my work online and passed it off as his own.
From what I’ve found, she stole my Coyote, Grizzly, Black Bear, Moose, Squirrel, Peanuts and Smiling Tiger paintings, but likely more than that. While the first five are no longer bestsellers, and a couple are even retired, my Smiling Tiger and Peanuts paintings are two of my most popular, bestselling and frequently licensed images.
After a whole career dealing with this kind of thing, I am firm-footed in ‘fool me twice’ territory. Her reply almost stopped me from writing this post, but she’s standing proudly in that photo with six large canvases of an art style I’ve spent years developing. And 24 hours after her apology, my work is still visible on her social media with mentions of her amazing paintings. Very sincere.
From early prep to tear down, Expo went so smoothly that I kept waiting for something bad to happen. My booth location was ideal, my neighbours were friendly, and all the vendors I spoke with seemed to have a good show.
I always come away from this show inspired to draw and paint, with an overwhelming gratitude for those who allow me to keep doing it. Like most artists, I’m an introvert who spends most of my time alone with my work, so when I meet people who enjoy it, it refills the creative tank.
During the first two hours on Thursday, I saw many regulars flood my booth. It was chaos, it was bedlam, it was awesome. The only downside was that these were all people I wanted to spend extra time with, but they all showed up at once. I had the best Thursday sales I’ve ever had, and most of those were from longtime collectors and subscribers to 
I’m working on five different paintings right now, a few that feature multiple animals in the scene, and I aim to include those on future puzzles later this summer, 1000-piece options many of you have been asking for.
My buddy Darrel and I spent five days last week at the cabin we rent in the foothills of central Alberta. Even though our first visit there was in January of 2018, we don’t often go during the winter months.
Back to work, I’m already preparing for the 
