It was quite the weekend. Saturday at the very least was an adventure.

I finished Friday by doing some show-prep work: wiring canvases for hanging, making display cards, etc. I had to hang some paintings up in a Barnes & Noble in West Des Moines (the University location for you locals). I’ve been pretty lucky in the fact that I haven’t had to hang my own work for quite a while now. It was good to get back into it and I liked the fact that I was able to make my own decisions about how the arrangement went down. Huge Thank-You’s to a very good friend for lending a hand. I would’ve been kinda screwed otherwise… or at the very least at the mercy of strangers.

That evening I played emcee at a 40’s-themed charity fashion show event at the Des Moines Social Club called Emergence. I was initially under the impression that I would be in the sound booth or back stage making announcements. That is until I walked in and saw the mic wired up on stage. Don’t get me wrong… I’ve got absolutely no issues with getting up in front of a crowd. In a past life I did just that 4 or 5 nights per week. The only concern was that I hadn’t quite dressed the part that evening. After some reassurances that my wardrobe fit more or less with the show (just short of a Cardigan and pipe) I took my notes and spent an hour or so rehearsing my delivery. The crowd was very receptive and the show came off beautifully. The designs looked great and the models: Des Moines’ very own classic Burlesque troop, St Vitus and the Taxi Dancers, were a perfect fit for the theme.

All in all I didnt’ get much painting done, but I did get some shots from Thursday night’s studio session. I’ll be back at it tonight. I’d like to get as much done on this one as possible before I start on the commission I’ll be finalizing with the buyers tomorrow night. I’ve been thinking that I might try just posting detail shots while I’m still in-process from now on. Might be more fun to keep the final composition a bit of a mystery. A creative individual might just be able to tile their version of the finished piece together before it’s all done. I might just post such a thing were it to wind up in my inbox. Just tossin’ that out there.

Until next time…

Cheers,

R