My portrait Exchange with "Smithy" from Australia

I signed up for the 4th annual portrait exchange in the portraiture forum at WC! My exchange partner, Graham, lives in Australia, so I had to mail his package overseas. It didn't take long to get there- six days is pretty good I think. I now have a total of three paintings hanging on the Australian continent. Graham's name at WC is Bluewindfisher, but for some reason I got mixed up and thought it was Bluefishwinder. I assumed the man liked to fish, especially for Bluefish, so I did a little research and actually placed a Bluefish into the painting with him. I found out later thatI got th name wrong, but he likes the painting anyway and posted a picture of himself along side it. He really looks like a guy who live sin the outback. I am posting the one he did of me here as well.
That's my dog, Jake, sneaking his nose into the picture. It's hard to go anywhere in my house without an animal following me.
Internet art groups allow artists from everywhere to communicate ideas and exchange information. The internet has totally changed the way art is presented to the consumer and has allowed anyone who can use a mouse to visit virtual galleries and become an art collector. I have thought a lot about this lately as several people have told me my prices are too low and I need to raise them to make them more in line with what galleries charge. I tend to disagree. In the old days a client might have to visit 5 or 6 galleries to find just the piece they were looking for. The internet allows buyers to connect directly with the artists and acquire their works at a substantial savings. Collectors can view hundreds of on-line galleries in the space of time it might take to visit just one or two in the past. Sure, the images aren't always representative of the actual piece, but you do get an idea of what the artist can do and can easily keep yourself updated on their work.