Hey man,
I have had a moderately busy summer myself. Despite my broken finger, which is healing nicely actually, I have been doing a bunch of print making. A dealer in DC sold a huge (30×72” image size) print to a client there. An old one too, black and white film image made with the Widelux camera. It was cool to see it that big. But then a weird thing happened, Fedex “lost” it. Or so it seemed. After hours on the phone, and several trips to the FedEx store at U village, I ordered a new print, and shipping material, only to get a call to say it had been delivered. Since I was told it had never left Seattle, I didn’t call the framer in DC I had shipped it to. Besides he was suppose confirm safe arrival and didn’t… It seems that FedEx was going through a change of tracking numbers and so the number on my form was changed, and thus my number no longer valid and therefore showed up as lost. I called and conformed arrival and was able to cancel the second print and shipping materials, but I still applied for the insurance of $200 for the “lost” print. I figure if they are as inept as they were the first time, they will look at the old number and think my claim to be valid and pay me for my pain and suffering. Remains to be seen, eh?
Also in June, Seattle Art Museum Sales and Rental Gallery rented 12 prints and wanted more soon. I had just delivered 4 new ones, which they immediately sold (Images of UW). So I have 8 more ready to deliver next week. Connie helped me frame them and it was nice to work together again. In August I will print some more and swap out a show of work I have at a clients office. About 12 to 14 prints. If your offer to help is still good, maybe you could help with that? My finger would better to and I won’t be so gimpy. They are smaller prints too (20×24” framed) and are easier to deal with.
And a road trip would be fun too some time. I have taken to carrying a bag on my walks with Barney down to the park. I gather a bag of loose rocks, mostly small and have begun to fill in spots in the garden, I am liking the look. In fact I even thought of going to the stone place in Ballard to get a bag of rocks that would all be the same color for a more designed look. But have decided to just stay the course for now with the organic look. So I need a few more of various sizes. Perhaps another 200# like the last time.
Not feeling any regrets about passing on Rome this year, and actually feel quite good about getting the gig for Keith. Keith does great work and is a really nice guy, but has had a tough time the past few years. Besides the crappy photo biz world that we have all experienced, his wife left him for a her chiropractor and was nasty about it. He is 55 now with 2 young daughters and his mother passed away a few months before mine did. And they were very close. So he has been low, feeling bitter about life and scrambling for jobs to make ends meet. Needless to say, he needed a pick me up. He is very excited and can’t believe it is all happening. So I think he will do a good job and bring some fresh enthusiasm to the program. I know if I had gone, it would probably be old hat and I would just be going through the motions. Those kids deserve better then that. I am sure some folks would think me crazy for passing up a “dream job”, but as I have gotten older, it seems I have become more clear on when it is time to move on and do other things. To quote Bonnie Raitt, ”life gets mighty precious, when there’s less of it to waste”. Fishing with Walter sounds pretty nice at the moment.
Your pal,
Mel
