Hello, Lovies ~
Today I stood guard to catch the mailman. Why do you ask? Well, it was raining like crazy today! One of those freakish events that don't happen all too often in sunny southern California. I caught him just in time and thought today I am going to share something I do for my clients, besides dashing through the rain to mail off their paintings.
I offer gift wrap and personalized handwritten notes. All you have to do is let me know what you like the note to say and voila ~ it will magically happen! I put every painting in a plastic cover to protect the painting while it is in transit.
In the past, it has happened on several occasions that a mailman just dropped my packages off behind the gate, out in the open. Packages got wet from the sprinklers, rain and hopefully not by any passing pouch who felt the need ~ well you know what. Believe me it is not fun to open up a wet package and see the contents damaged because someone was just too lazy to drop off the package by the door that has a huge cover it is at all-time dry!
This is why my paintings get that extra layer of protection. I put every painting in a plastic bag and seal that one as well, to protect it from getting wet. In cases where gift wrap is requested, the wrap goes over the plastic layer. You won't believe it, but I learned a costly lesson the hard way. Some gift wrap can leave imprints on the canvas. Been there done that and had to repaint the entire portrait free of charge, since it did not occur to me that something like that could happen. The wrapping paper and cards I choose really depends on what I think might be appropriate for the recipient. Here the painting is going to a grandma, so I went with a silver-colored wrap. Since bows and ribbons can leave dents, I use stickers to make the package look nice. These are little touches, I know, but I figure every little thing counts to make someone very happy.
After that, the gift gets packaged and wrapped in tons more tape and send via Priority mail to its lucky recipient. My portraits include free shipping since I just sleep better knowing that the paintings I just labored over get to their recipients in 2-3 days and are insured. Anyhow, for my artist friends out there, do share how you send your paintings, mishaps, etc. . Love to read your comments ~ xx
