"Rosie Rump"/ 40"x16"/ latex & Ink on canvas/ $475

Rosie bought a house next to her younger sister, Rita Rump, after saving half her paycheck for 40 years. She loved every aspect of her new house, especially the terracotta floors she inherited. Rosie soon found out how much of a burden her beautiful floors would become. She insisted on having a place for everything, Rosie would clean and dust and make sure everything was in order. After living in the house for a few months she decided to tackle the floors. Each tile had a natural hump and made it difficult to clean with conventional floor appliances, even a vacuum was out of the question. Rosie flew into a panic …. How can she maintain her flooring? She got on her hands and knees, which wasn’t that easy at her age, and started to scrub each tile and paid special attention to the grout… scrubbing with an old toothbrush with a combination of vinegar and baking soda. After dragging herself around the floor for five hours and only accomplishing the kitchen area she got up and decided to rest and let it dry.

After her afternoon nap, Rosie checked on her floor. To her horror, the tile looked drab and worse as if she hadn’t even cleaned it! After many tries, Rosie experimented with painting a clear sealant onto each tile and even rented a commercial sander which caused the whole house and its contents to be engulfed in billows of orange dust!!!

She looked up on her computer a professional tile cleaning service and discovered that they included all tiles except terracotta. Rosie broke out in a sweat and collapsed onto her floor and cried.

To this day Rosie has accepted defeat and allows the floor to be what she calls “natural”. Life is good!