Omaha Weather ends our Summerarts early

Yesterday we returned home to Houston to assess all of our damage and regroup for the rest of our art exhibits.

The storms that blew thru downtown Omaha were not officially classified as a tornado; however, from 80 mph to 110 mph wind gusts are severe no matter what you call them -- I believe they called them direct line winds. Anyway about a dozen artists had their booths, displays and much merchandise destroyed during this event. Also the amount of rain than came with it had much of our artwork floating in water.

The GREATNESS of fellow artists was so apparent with so many helping us dig through the mud and water to lift apart our panels, tents, artwork, etc. I was in a daze and not much help. I was between shock, awe, disbelief and stood paralyzed not doing much good at all. The number of people including volunteers who helped us and MANY others in our situation was overwhelming. Thanks to all of you!!

We initially assessed our damage to be about $30,000 counting the retail prices of our artwork and the loss of sales at the event. However, after unloading yesterday in our studio, it appears we can salvage many of our panels, get one new tent and use good parts of both tents to have another tent to use. Most of Guiteau's artwork was severely damaged and that will be costly; however, we will put one foot in front of the other and move on. My closer estimate is about $15,000 counting damaged artwork, frames, panels, hardware (our steel support arms for the panels were bent in two!). Since we have no insurance we will have to deal with this on top of rising fuel costs -- but, we will start today with a positive attitude and move forward.

My dear husband Guiteau reminded me of how much worse this would have been if it had occurred at the beginning of our travels the first of May. We might have had more show revenues lost.

In spite of all that occurred (there is more to the story), I love Omaha and the shows there are very good and we will be back..... if invited.

p.s. The "more" to the story is that while we were setting up our booth on Thursday, some neighborhood thieves broke our hotel window and screen and stole my grandson's relatively new laptop computer. Our homeowner's policy has a $1000 deductible so with depreciation we wouldn't get anything for it.

I will update the blog once we are back on the road. God bless you. We have much to be grateful for. We have our home, studio, vehicles and most of all good health.

Pittsburgh Festival Soon

We are getting worn out. Just finished a show in Buffalo NY and arrived today in Pittsburgh. We took a couple of resting days off in Buffalo and went to see Niagara Falls on a cold rainy day. Nevertheless, my husband and grandson Aaron have never been there so I felt it was a must see.

Somehow I remember the falls as much larger but the last time I went was about 50 years ago (wow!). That was when I was much younger.

The 3 Rivers Festival in Pittsburgh is a show we have not done for quite some time and I am hoping it was gotten somewhat better. Anyway, we have a great hotel room at the Radisson nearby for a great rate.

Next week we go to Omaha after stopping for a night in Columbus, Ohio. In Columbus we are going to dinner with some dear Christian friends that got married last year (or two) and it will be wonderful to catch up with their lives. They are expecting a new baby girl very soon.

We have the challenge then to get to Omaha via Iowa. The poor unfortunate people in Iowa have been devastated witih constant flooding and rains. I am in a dilemma which way to travel but perhaps by then the waters will have receded.

Some of our shows have been excellent and some disappointing but overall we are still paying bills (and there are plenty). God is so good that he gives us the privilege of creating artwork and being able to meet all of our needs.

God bless any of you who reads these infrequent blogs. The only thing I always keep pretty up to date is my show schedule. My website www.contemporarypictures.com will probably not be updated as it is more complicated for me to figure out.

Pray for my daughter Tami that her lungs are healed and the growths are benign. Pray for strength, healing and God's hand upon her body, spirit and soul.