A Weekend Well Worth It

In my efforts to expand into new markets I've been doing some looking in the Dubuque/Galena areas. I used to live near Dubuque and despite its small stature I've had a fair bit of luck with sales in that area. Galena is a lovely little town just over the border into Illinois. It's sortof touristy, but boasts some vibrant commerce and some very nice art as well as a pictureque setting. Both areas, in my opinion, would amount to some seasonal sales centering around Autumn and Winter. I'm hoping to get some work in somewhere before Autums's up or at least by Winter.
It also happens that I have a very dear friend living just outside Galena in an area called simply, The Territory. We spent the weekend catching up, shooting the shit, driving around some wooded farmland in a 4-wheeler getting completely covered in seeds, and taking pics of Galena for some future work. I'm going through the pics now. I managed to get about 150 so I've got my work cut out for me. Photoshop Elements is currently batch-rotating most of them... Posted above is one of many. I've employed my friend and his lovely wife as props. Haven't really thought about which of the pics I'll use yet. Over time I've found that pics I'd passed over for consideration have a way of coming back around. My most humble thanks for my friends for their gracious hospitality and love. Thanks, guys!

In other news I've gotten some more work done on my current piece and hope to put it up for advanced sale to you all before sending it off to one of the galleries. Buy it before it hangs and get a BIG discount! Sounds like a bargain for me. This little guy is 16"x20" on gallery-wrapped canvas and looks stunning in person.
Not much to say about it tonight except I'm anxious to get to it. Here's the current state of the union. One more good session and I think she'll be ready to go. I think i need to fix those small, background figures. Looks like they're marching. Not that that's a problems per se, just seems a little... I dunno... silly.

Speaking of state of the union all I can say is Wow! Where was the Fed when so many other people's businesses were going down the tubes. The Market, in my opinion, would recover more quickly if we let it do what it's meant to do instead of propping up an industry that shot itself in the foot in the name of greed. I'd be willing to bet none of the top-level SOB's in charge would be willing to cut their own pay to help lighten the load the rest of us are being asked to bear. We'll spread the cost around and let everyone pitch in.
What the Living Hell happened to us as a people? "Hey Everybody! Watch the (insert pop-culture trainwreck name here) while your culture slides out from underneath you!". Even Nero would be ashamed...
Ok... I'm done now.
*steps down from soapbox. gets beer from fridge*

Cheers, Goodnight, and Good Luck

R