Maggie Rants [and Raves]

But I Can Paint

by Maggie Franklin | September 21, 2009 | Bookmark +

I know not everyone can paint. In fact, I've heard some people exclaim they can't even paint a wall. So when nail art trends lean toward embellishments and decals, I understand why these styles catch on.

 

Right now, I'm seeing a lot of awesome nails done with temporary tattoos. This is very cool. For one thing, they look stunning! For another thing, it keeps you safe on the subject of copyrights. The problem is, my clients don't want this. Not from me.

 

My clients come in and look through my portfolio and then sit down and proudly declare they want (fill in the blank). You name it. I've done Ed Hardy (getting really good at those), Disney, even Harry Potter. Sometimes I think clients come in with ideas that are designed just to see if I can do it or not.

 

I'm proud to say, so far, so good! I was really sweating those Harry Potter nails.

 

Now, I'm very proud of my artistic abilities. I'm also very aware that I'm not the brightest paint on the palette. There are a lot of extraordinarily talented artists out there that make my work look like first-grade scribble. Nevertheless, I'm grateful for having received a small serving of talent — at least I can paint a bunny for Easter.

 

No really. When I was in high school, I had my nails done by one woman for a couple of years and she was happy to decorate my nails with stripes and dots and flowers and she even taught me how to do some really cool butterflies — but she'd just look at me like I was crazy if I asked for a bunny for Easter or a Santa at Christmas. She wouldn't even try. I once showed her exactly how to paint a bunny, in fact. But she still refused to give it a try.

 

It's one of those things I always keep in mind when someone brings me some insane nail art challenge. I always remember that nail tech who wouldn't even try something new, and I take a big gulp and dive in. Usually I end up with something decent; occasionally I just laugh and tell my client they ain't getting that today!

 

Anyway, as I was saying … I'm a little bummed about not getting to jump on the bandwagon with my nail-peeps. I can show my clients some of the pictures that are getting posted to Myspace and Facebook friends' profiles and that make the rounds of the popular networking forums, but my clients just sort of look at me as though slightly confused and they say, "Yeah, but Maggie, why would I want that when you can paint?"

 

Gee, I don't know. Because no one believes you when you say it's not a sticker anyway?

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