Friday, March 18, 2011

Orlando Art and Living Expo

Hi Everyone...So sorry for taking so long to give an update.. I got a little caught up in getting ready for my next show that was down in Vero Beach.....Under the oaks... Which I will review shortly..

The event was The Orlando Art and Living Expo....

I was not sure what to expect as this was my  1st time in this show...I love the location and setting.. Downtown Orlando right on the banks of Lake Eola.... I do have to tell you my start was somewhat less than spectacular!  I staked my tent down as I was positioned in a nice little grass location. Three of the stakes were a piece of cake....The fourth,,,uhhhh not so great.!!! Do you think if I tried to take a quarter inch spike and find a three quarter inch  water line I could do it??? Well neither do I...However, this time I managed to do just that....Yikes, instant swamp!!!! The promoters were awesome and came to my rescue..I would like to Thank all of them for being so so helpful all weekend. Jim Barton, really did a great job as an organizer. There were people there to help load and unload and during the event anything I asked for I was given with a smile!!

Well anyway , after my initial Jed Clampett impression  everything smoothed out. The crowd was non-stop..Hmmm well the were a lot of people but, not many of them were stopping , well at least  not with there wallets open anyway.. Maybe they were there for all of the top notch entertainment. Ambrosia, the Grammy nominated band from back in the day was there.. Eric Darius, an awesome sax player with a really upbeat style rocked the place big time!! So Saturday was incredibly slow sales wise, however , at 5.30 I was told I had won an award ( " Award of Excellence") that came with a nice cash prize so abracadabra I was back in the hunt. It was really a great honor for me to get the award. The money was nice but, The judges were all great artists so that made it really mean something extra!! They were Robin Maria Pedrero, Mindy Z. Colton and Robin Van Arsdol ( R.V).... R.V. is one of my all time favorite artists that did an amazing amount of murals in New York , City... He is simply amazing!! His work goes so much deeper than just his imagery.... a great many messages of significance as well. So like I said ..A wonderfully humbling honor!!!

Sunday, I just was not sure what to expect... No awards on this day so I could not get bailed out that way!!!! But, as it turned out  the crowds kept coming but, this time they wanted to carry away bags...so it turned out to be a  really great Sunday!
 Truthfully, it was a really awesome event overall. I met some really great people. Other artists as well as show goers. Which to me is probably one of the coolest parts  of doing these shows!

Well, next year I would have to say its a great place to run away to for a weekend of art and music in an incredible setting ... I know I am for sure  hoping to do the show again!!