I arrived at the venue spot (my tent) about 9:30 AM and unloaded the van and set up the studio area and the display area. It was chilly and overcast and the breeze was gusty but not as strong as yesterday. I decided not to set up my sun umbrella at all. Luckily no one was injured and I then disassembled it and laid it down not to be used again today. I decided to use the weights, whose purpose was to hold the umbrella up, as a force to prevent my walls from moving in the wind. To my surprise, the display walls still moved a couple of times, even pushing the weights on the sidewalk several inches.
The morning started out quietly and I was able to work on a couple of charcoal drawings from yesterday, completing the one of Lucky and hanging it on the display wall in my tent. I found that using a couple of small Velcro strips worked well to mount it on the carpeted walls (suggestion from Joe yesterday). Using a piece of fishing line held on with duct tape had not worked well as the line just slipped through or the tape pulled off.
I needed to take a restroom break, so I went to the arena doors where I had always entered in the past to use the restroom but found it locked. I noticed that there was a call-box on far end of the doors so I pushed the button and heard the words “secrurity” I told them who I was and asked to go in and use the restroom. She said “No”. I said I had always used the restroom in the past and was told I could use the restroom facilities at will. She said “We're closed”. I pleaded that I need to use it and didn't know what I would do. So she said “OK, I'll let you in”. Inside she told me she knew nothing about me and what my access was. I said I would need to get in later because my car was parked in their gated area and she agreed to let me get to it when I needed to.
At one point, while working with my back to the front of the tent, I hear a familiar voice and turned around to see that my hostess, Patty, had arrived to see my display. She introduced me to an artist friend of hers and we had a lengthy discussion about the venue and its location relative to the crowd and the wind tunnel that I was in. I had had a couple of snack bars, but that just wasn't going to satisfy me for lunch a second day so I decide to try a little place about a 150 yards away on Ionia Street to see what they had to eat. It turned out to be just what I was looking for, a salad restaurant. Although it cost me just under $10 for a salad with 5 toppings and a small bag of chips, it did the job.
Some time later Patty returned with her husband, Pete, and we had the venue location discussion again. About that time, I family came by to view my display with a young high school senior girl who wanted to be in my ArtPrize display. Kayla decide to have a charcoal done because the family didn't want to wait for her to have a pastel or oil painting done. Kayla was a beautiful, brunette with brown eyes and a big smile. Her friends, who were also with the family, said I had to draw her with her big toothy smile. I said she could smile if she could hold it for half an hour. They all agreed that she could do it. So I said let's try it. That put a lot of pressure on me to work as fast as possible so I could catch the smile before her checks tired. Kayla held the prettiest smile for half an hour I have ever seen. We got it done and everyone said it looked just like her. I felt it needed some work so I took her photo for later reference before she left. Kayla said her cheeks were very sore, but she was happy with the portrait.
After Kayla and party left, I down loaded her photo and started to work on the drawing to finish it. While working on it a young black man, with three little children, stopped by, loved my work, and wanted me to do a charcoal of the children on one piece of paper. I told him I would try to do it, but I would probably have use a photo. We sat the children down and took a series of pictures to determine the pose we would try. We saw a photo that might work, but I wanted to make an adjustment on the lighting. When I turned to look at the children again, I saw that the little girl had a large amount of blood flowing from her nose and we all panicked to get it stopped. That was the end of the photo session and the charcoal drawing and off they went. The young father insisted that he still wanted the charcoal and would return. Later after finishing the charcoal of Kayla, they returned, the nose bleed taken care of and all was well. We selected the photo to use for the charcoal. So now I have three more subjects to draw.
I loaded up and left the venue about 8:15 PM.
RSS Feed