Original Background Painting from A Flintstone Christmas, 1977

One of my old college roomates, who is now a college professor, once commented that I seemed to get as much joy out of a new action figure as I did from a valuable 19th century English watercolor -- and he really wasn't even trying to criticize my taste. He was largely right (although I do like to think that I have some clue as to the actual relative value and importance of various pieces of art, by more objective standards than just my own taste). These colorful backgrounds from a 1977 Flintstones Christmas Special are not very valuable, yet I like looking at them almost as much as as I like to see an Evynd Earle Sleeping Beauty background worth 500 times as much. This is probably the main characteristic I would use to distinguish true art lovers and collectors from dilitants and art speculators. It probably also explains why I hate to sell pieces of art to buy new pieces and why I hate to trade for other art. If I like something enough to buy it, I rarely lose interest in that piece and almost never really want to part with it; even if it is a humble Hanna Barbera background painting which is worth about the same as I paid for it nearly 20 years ago.