Back in Houston

I can tell I am getting road weary since I never finished my reports on Virginia Beach or my next show in Omaha NE. Mark, I appreciate your comments on my Virginia Beach blog but never got your email. Hopefully you saw our artwork in Omaha during the college world series.

Virginia Beach turned out to be a beautiful week after a cold Thursday with slight drizzle. This was a blessing because it can be extremely hot on the boardwalk and no one wants to look if the weather is too hot. We ended the show profitably at Virginia Beach, up from last year. A last minute $2,000 sale was the reason. Thank God.

We took a leisurely route to Omaha via the Pennsylvania turnpike. We made it in 2-1/2 days while an artist friend made it in 2. He confessed he drives about 80 mph and takes few stops. He is young and energetic. We stop and sit down for lunch and keep the truck at about 65 mph.

Friday was windy and rainy in the afternoon but the crowds during the day didn't buy anything from us. They did not seem like our type of customers. Saturday and Sunday was very different and we ended up with 50 percent higher sales than Virginia Beach.

Our trip back to Houston was great and we really appreciated our comfortable bed when we got home. Travelling is always nice and coming home is very sweet.

Aaron (my grandson) will be working with us now at shows and starting to create his own art in the next year. His goal is to start exhibiting at some of the same shows starting next year as a young emerging artist. He has talent and we are thrilled he has made this decision.

I will keep posting...We are due back out on the road in a couple of weeks. God bless you all.

Virginia Beach

Well, we decided to drive straight thru to Virginia Beach yesterday. We arrived about 11:00 pm and were able to get a temporary room. They have booked us for a different room for the rest of our stay.

Virginia Beach is one of our favorite shows because we feel that this is our vacation time. Even though we will set up our booth on Wednesday and sit outside for the following 4 days, how can you beat looking out at the Atlantic Ocean and walking a few steps to your hotel every day. The boardwalk is wonderful and the Hilton Hotel next door has terrific food. We don't stay there because the room prices are outrageous and they don't have a parking lot for our truck.

We are getting ready to get up and about this morning..but wanted to keep this blog up to date. Allentown Art Festival was a nice surprise. Buffalo has a depressed economy but nevertheless our sales were very good. We look forward to returning next year. The people are very nice in western New York and the drive getting there is breathtaking. We drive thru the Poconos in Pennsylvania and it is magnificent to view.

Will post later.....God bless you.

Show Updates

I can't believe I haven't posted since Decatur, GA. Last weekend we were in my favorite place..the city of brotherly love. It is definitely Philadelphia. We had a wonderful hotel and great weather until the time to take down our display. The show was very profitable and we had wonderful accommodations. We started taking down our display at 5pm and it had already started raining. Then it rained harder and harder. Needless to say, the tent protecting us had to eventually be taken down and put in the truck. We were totally drenched at about 8:30 pm when we finished. We had 2 booths to it was double work. We were fortunate that one of our acquaintances from Philly agreed to help us. Michael McShane, also known as Cowmuddy was our helper. He is a singer, guitar player and song writer who earns extra money doing different odd jobs. He told us his new job is shoveling horse manure on a nearby farm. He loves the horses, but the job stinks. (Literally). But, he has a musician's heart and does what it takes to get by. He gave us one of his cd's but we have not yet had time to listen to it. We meet such interesting talented people in our travels. Michael is one of them.

Today is our first day in Buffalo, NY at the Allentown Art Festival. We had huge crowds but the economy here has been depressed for quite some time. Nevertheless, Guiteau sold some large pieces and I sold about 3 small paintings. Our sales were decent for the area. This is a show we enjoy doing as this show is easy to set up. We leave our truck parked behind our booth so we will be able to start tearing our booth down a little early. We are looking forward to Sunday sales. I have a potential buyer looking at a large painting..I hope they choose to purchase this. It will make our show.

Take care and God bless you.