The Thanksgiving leftovers are but a memory.  But let's talk turkey.  

Writing, recording, producing, and otherwise creating The Lonely Palette is the joy of my life.  When I was in graduate school, slogging away, I never imagined that someday so many people would want to hear my piping hot takes on art history.  It was lonely being the only one in my program who saw a Rothko and thought about Pretty Woman.  

But you do!  And I couldn't be more thrilled.

As a listener, you know that The Lonely Palette has never simply been a question of me reading a Wikipedia page out loud.  It’s about inviting you in to empathize with an artist, with a cultural moment.  It’s about making art relevant to your life.  It's writing (you guys, so much writing).  It’s pre-production, production, post-production: editing voices and music and rhythm and pacing.  It’s a whole lot of picking it up, putting it back down, approaching it with fresh ears, cringing and cutting and crafting.  It’s the post-release hustle.  It takes, in short, a staggering amount of time.

When you become a patron the The Lonely Palette, you are, essentially, giving me the gift of time. 

WELCOME TO THE YEAR-END PATREON LISTENER CHALLENGE:

If The Lonely Palette get 50 new Patreon patrons by January 13, I will release an episode, early in 2023, on your favorite soothing soft-voiced paint-dabby PBS mainstay and mine, the one and only Robert Norman Ross.  Did you know that he was born in Florida and only saw the mountains he ended up endlessly painting when he was posted in Alaska as a master sergeant in the Air Force (which he was in for 20 years)?  NOW YA DO.  And that one was on the house!

FAQ

Any giveaways I should know about?

Sure are!  If you support at the $5 per episode tier, you’re entered to win one of two Bob Ross Starter Kit™, including, but not limited to, a vintage Happy Little Trees tee-shirt, a finger puppet, rare books, and a set of Winsor & Newton Cotman watercolor paints, care of our good friends at Blick Art Materials.

 But that’s not all!  If you support at the $10 per episode tier, you’re entered to receive an original painting by fine artist and friend of the pod Debbie Mueller.  Quite simply, any wall that supports her work begins to sing. We’re so lucky to be the beneficiary of her generosity. 

But wait, there’s more! If you support at the $25 per episode tier (or above), you’ll be entered to receive a customized portrait of a little squirt in your life, care of fine artist (and even finer mom), Susan Avishai. I can tell you from personal experience that an exquisite portrait like this is more meaningful than any baby photographed in any bucket, all apologies to Anne Geddes.

Times are tough. We all know this. But aren’t I kind of a jerk if I only give you like $2 an episode?

Hardly! Any seasoned fundraiser will tell you that it’s better to have lots of people pledging small amounts than a few big-ticket donors… who could quite reasonably decide at any time to call it quits, and then the pooch is screwed. Every little bit counts is what I’m saying, and is so appreciated.

How often do you release? How much am I really committing to?

Excellent question. My goal is around 8-10 episodes a year; sometimes I do more, and some years, like this one, I was producing children instead. Supporting per episode is equivalent to, at most, monthly support. $5 per episode would come to around $60 per year (tops!), less than you spent on the fees for when you forgot stuff in Lyfts, let’s be honest.

Supporting the show feels good and all, but having a water bottle would feel better.

Indeed it would! Head on over to The Lonely Palette’s Patreon page to check out all the swag you will get based on the tier you select.

But podcasts are free! That’s, like, the whole point!

Ah, my friend, free to consume, but not free to produce. There is gear, there are web domains, there is editing software, but more than anything, there is my time. The more you donate, the more time I can buy to create more content. For you! For us! And you get to be a part of that, for cheap!

Well I’m sold. Where do I sign up again?

And thank you so much.