Just got in from my annual fall trek to Chicago for the MMSI show. The club puts on a very well done show and has since long before my time. This was my tenth, but the club's 35th. Hard to imagine really. It was a great time. Rusty Nail drove up from southern Arkansas on Thrusday and we took out the next day together. It's always good to have a travel companion. The trip across IL is one I really enjoy. The farmland in the fall is really beautiful. This year the trip up was kind of gloomy because of the constant rain. Seeing the sun, appropriately enough on Sunday was a welcome change of pace. It was terrific seeing old friends and meeting some new ones. The amount and quality of work in the exhibit hall was great as usual. I was honored to win a gold in the open and a silver in painters. It was difficult to hear the different awards from the hallway, so I missed hearing what some of my friends got for their displays. Above are the two most recent pieces I completed. They were part of my display at this year's show. I sold the pirate to a collector. I didn't really intend to sell it, I just wanted to show the collector what I had been working on and see if he was looking for anything of that sort. He was rather taken with it and after some reconsideration, he elected to go ahead and purchase it. I sometimes hate to part with my work. It does finance my hobby and besides, I've already had my fun during the creation.
