So Saturday was a big day. Started out with a 5K at 9. My friend Stacey picked me up and we headed over. The race itself was okay. A few more hills than I’m used to. But I made it through for my first ever and had a time of 58:31! 585 out of 698 runners! I did it! And they gave me proof!
After that I came home to get ready for the zoo! I’d packed the car the night before but I was TERRIFIED I was leaving something important. (I actually did. I didn’t pack one of my paint cleaner soaps. Not a HUGE deal, but annoying.) So off we went!
There had been a possibility of rain so they had made plans to put us in covered portions of the zoo. I had been planning to paint an orangutan so it was a bit disappointing when I was put in the reptile section Scaly Slimy Spectacular. Until I realized…that entire building has AC!!! The one problem it does have…it’s at the highest point in the zoo. So you come down from the parking deck and then head right back up another hill towards the building. It was so hot and I was tired already and I had a fairly hefty bunch of equipment. That little cart got HEAVY. But once in…cool conditioned bliss. So I got set up and started painting…
I came prepared. I was being hired to be an artist performance and I was gonna give ’em their money’s worth. I did 8 smaller paintings beforehand to display. I wasn’t able to get a table but we managed to get them sorted on top of my cart for people to look at. Unfortunately, we got busy so no photos of the setup but it was okay. However, I did get scans of all my work…including the ones that sold! Some you’ve seen, some are new!
At the end of the night I had sold half of them! I marked the ones that are gone but the others will be available on the website soon! (Gotta figure out shipping.)
Oh, and the painting I started I did MOSTLY finish. I need to fix an edge or two and then wrap it up and get a nice(r) photo, but here it is mostly done!
A lot of post today but it was a lot of Saturday! But a great Saturday! I got out and was able to paint and we learned that my wife is great with dealing with the public. One of my problems when I’m out and about like this…I’m working and I completely get engrossed and miss people watching ALL the time. Jenn was there and was able to either a) talk to them herself or b) poke me and alert me if someone was interested. It worked out great and I can’t wait to do it again.
I hope your week is going great and I hope you’ve checked your voter registration recently! Early voting is around the corner (for some it’s already HERE) and we need some checks and balances NOW!
-The Paintmonkey