spaceman and the birds

This painting was very popular this past fall. It was hanging in a gallery downtown in Wilmington. There were 12 other paintings in this show, and personally, I thought all twelve of them were stronger (more likely to sell) than this one. I actually had forgotten to bring it down on the day the show was to be hung.
Quick tangent; I think it's really appropriate that we "hang" paintings. It sounds like the old days in the wild west. It's like they've been on trial since the first brushstroke. "This painting tried too hard" -"hang 'em". "This painting offends me" -"hang 'em" "This painting doesn't successfully say what the artist intended" -"hang it" "This painting showed it's heart, and didn't win the girl" -"hang it"
Anyway, sorry......it's something I could go on and on with. I realize that so many artists don't put their work out there because it's scary. They don't want to stand trial in front of the public, and be declared guilty for not delivering what people want, or like.
My experience with this painting is that many people liked it, it even got to appear in the newspaper along with an interview with myself the day before the show opened, I made up flyers for this show with the spaceman's, and the birds' images on them, and still, on the night of the opening, a total of three people wandered in to take a look around.
I had showed up anticipating something more like the crowds that are seen in the movies gathered around the gallows, throwing vegetables and shouting insults. So much for expectations!
I know that art is important to other people, and there is interest in paintings, sometimes people even buy them. This is what keeps me trying to engage the public in what I prepare to be hanged.