The gallery wall in the living room is finished! At least until I find something else I like better than something that’s up there now.

And there’s a good story behind how I filled the last space.

You may never have heard of Fred Babb. To be honest, I never knew much about him. He had a gallery in Cambria, California called What Iz Art just up the road a bit from my home town of San Luis Obispo. And he made art that was always super cheerfully colorful, but with an edge to keep it from being cutesy. And in a town that for a long time also housed a Thomas Kinkade gallery, I majorly appreciated his brand of subversive humor.

Lucky for me, Babb had several t-shirt designs and affordable prints of his work. I wish I could say I still had his t-shirt about the importance of the arts in education. However, I think it’s one of the few items of clothing I ever completely wore out. The only downside was that the colors drew a lot of attention and people always wanted to read it, which sometimes would put me in the awkward position of waiting patiently while people stared at my chest.

Photo courtesy of FredBabbArt on Etsy and copyrighted Fred Babb

It’s not all that short a statement either.

So imagine my surprise when this last time I visited home, I discovered that Fred Babb’s son now works for my mom! Sometimes it’s such a small world. Or, a small county, I suppose. Fred has passed away, but his son has kept his dad’s art in the pubic view via an Etsy store.

In fact, when Fred’s son heard how big a fan I was, he sent me one of the prints from the Etsy store, which I hung in my very last space on our living room gallery wall when I got back from my trip.

If you like the look of any of what you see here, FredBabbArt on Etsy has graciously extended a discount to Pies & Puggles readers. Just enter code PRINT2013 for 10% off any purchase from the store.

I think Fred would have been pleased that this print matches nothing else in my house and definitely doesn’t match my sofa.

Now go to your studio and make stuff. Happy weekend, everyone!

I suppose you could say I was perked for writing this content, but the perk came first – via one of those strange coincidences that comes from growing up in a small town. That said, all opinions and content are my own.