Happy birthday Neel a year later!

Happy birthday Neel a year later!

Somehow I just could not wrap my head around the Lego octopus last year that Neel wanted.

I found photos of two of them, and this is the one he picked.

It was extremely complicated.

I sure pray he likes it!

 

Behind the scenes happening here.

Because I have new equipment, my husband and partner in art, 

Chris wanted to try loading the van today.

It's better to do this in advance because we both get kind of nervous closer to shows.

He had thought about it a lot and was contemplating building something 

because that is what he does best!

I've even bought him a t-shirt that says, "Yup, I can build that."

This year we have the new black flourish walls that we have now split into two bags.

Framework for sta-bars (a stabilization system that helps a tent in windy conditions.)

Framework for the tops of the tents to hold the walls.

Two frameworks for French wall system that involves both five- and seven-foot walls.

The French door is an opening to the back of the tent, 

but doesn't allow you to see through the back.

I have a pet peeve about seeing through a tent to the back.

Sometimes you see the back of another artist's tent, or an artist sleeping, or reading instead of interacting.

To me it's just sloppy looking.

We also carry two tents, in case of a storm taking out one during a show.

We've had to use an extra tent when mine was broken at the Fairhope Arts and Crafts a few years back.

Fortunately, we were home and could easily take down the broken one and replace it.

We just had to do it in the middle of the night!

This year, once again I have a double tent at the National Shrimp Festival in Gulf shores.

So, when trying to load in our usual way there was difficulty in putting everything equipment wise into the van.

We stepped back, and made a platform using the outer tents to 

hold up the plywood base we placed on top.

Chris cut the plywood, routered the edges, and cut handles to make it easier to handle.

I didn't get a photo of this, however.

We also have two tubs of walls and roofs, a small tub for curtains, a bag for lights, chairs, step stool, ladder and table. 

We will have to remove the art to get to the equipment underneath.

This is unfortunate, if there is rain.

We have to set up the tent before we can put art in place.

We both looked at it, and about 2 hours later I asked if it would be hard to add legs to the platform.

He shook his head and said get out of my head!

He said, "I was just thinking about that."

I asked him when and he said on the way here to get gas.

I said that's funny, I was thinking about it on the way here.

We've been married a long time, (almost 47 years)

One of us thinks something and the other one says it.

It's a little uncanny at times.

Anyway, he's going to add legs so the ladder, chair, and table will fit underneath.

Probably the cooler, small box for curtains, fans, cord, and lights as well.

Also, my show box that has a lot of little stuff we use at shows.

It's a lot of equipment!

The van will be packed to the absolute maximum for sure!

We will drop the trailer at the campground, then drive a short distance to the show.

The campground is about a quarter mile away from the event, so we ride bikes back and forth.

This way, I don't have to worry about where to put the van.

The rest of the fall shows we'll lose the French wall and a lot of the poles for that system.

That will probably be at least two bags of stuff gone into storage until spring.

We will switch to the three10-foot walls for the rest of the shows.

Even at Peter Anderson, I use three walls placing them so people can access the tent from 

both sides of the street.

Each show is different and presents its own challenges.

Happy birthday Neel! Acrylic on canvas, 6x6 inches

Day 69 of the 100 days~100 paintings 2025