When I was trapped in effing Chicago with no underwear several weeks ago, we stayed at the Intercontinental. When we checked into our rooms, I looked at the wall, picked up the phone and called Ouida.
Ginger: Do you have the same MOST FABULOUS PRINT IN THE WORLD on your wall that I have on my wall?
Ouida: I was just getting ready to call you and ask you the same thing...yellow bears?
Ginger: YES!!!
{see here}
I heart this print so hard. The signature on the bottom was rather vague and unfamiliar, "The Bird Machine" and "Chicago." I took a picture with my phone and googled the shit out of that, along with, "yellow bears red birds tree" when I got home. I finally found it! It turns out this is a print of a screen print by a fabulous artist named Jay Ryan. I found his store...print not for sale. I also learned that this piece was commissioned by the Intercontinental. Very crafty, Intercontinental! I found contact information for the artist's company and emailed them. They told me that it was a limited edition and sold out quickly (obviously - it's AWESOMETOWN) and my best bet was to keep an eye on eBay.
Fast forward to last week and what do I finally find on eBay? The Jay Ryan Intercontinental print! I was soooo excited! The seller didn't have a "buy now" option like almost every other Jay Ryan print offered, but I kept an eye on it and started bidding after someone else bid. I was totally outbid...several times...automatically, but some eBay coaching from B-Tim and Ouida calmed me down and we decided I should wait until the last minute to swoop in and snatch this print up. I set a reminder on my calendar and for the past five days I have been "snoozing" "Jay Ryan Intercontinental." Tonight was the night. I got in there and I just couldn't wait any longer...we were just short of two hours left, but I couldn't wait any longer - I had to submit another bid!!! I did and guess what...the seller blocked my bid! Uhm...? What?
I emailed him and was like, "Hi - I tried to bid on this and was blocked - blah, blah, blah." I figured once I emailed him and let him know I was a real person he would be like, "okay - no problem, access granted."
I got "sorry, I usually don't let bidders with zero feedback bid on my auctions. nothing personal but I find they bid on auctions just to bid them up and then they never pay." Asshole. I can't help it that I've never wanted used crap from eBay before (like your Pearl Jam concert t-shirs. Hey - guess what - 1999 called and...nah - too easy). And you know what else? Whatever your print sells for (you know - within reason), you could have gotten $3 more than that if you had let me bid. Grrrrr, maple-leaf-music, grrrrrrr.
Anyway - my point is this: if anyone sees this print for sale anywhere, let me know, yo! I want to buy it!
