Gonzai Gallery

I don't know what it is about benefits for animal charities, but nobody buys my stuff. I barely made my expenses, and as it turned out, I need not have bothered with anything other than Ravens & Orioles. Nothing else drew interest at all. Still, I did better than two of my three 'roommates', one had a single sale and the other had none. (The fourth cleaned up. Go figure.) But I met lots of doggies, plus some rats, chinchillas, guinea pigs and bunnies. I had help from my buddies Jim and Jeff, so it was a easy and social occasion if naught else. Trying to decide if I should bother with another show, I need the money but do I need the aggravation?

Went to Curt Motton's memorial service last night. It was an unusual service compared to those I've been to before; for one thing, there were cops. In uniform. 5 or 6 of them. I can't recall ever seeing a uniformed cop at a funeral before, much less a pack of them. And the widow had a receiving line. Her mother-in-law previewed people, then you talked to the widow, and then her sister followed up. Very organized! Very long line too, I was there 10 minutes after the doors opened and I was the 40th person to sign the guestbook. (There was a line for that, too.) So the mother-in-law asks who I am, and I wasn't sure how to phrase it, but I tried 'you know those two portraits Curt gave Marti a few years back?' 'The ones in the office? Yes.' 'I'm the artist'. She flipped. Apparently, Marti has been trying to find my contact info for a few years. (Curt had it, but neither could find it and I hadn't seen him in 3 years or so.) So they were all pleased as punch that I was there and wanted my business card and gushed about the drawings, etc. Marti wants a portrait of Curt with his grandson, so we'll be getting together on that in a few weeks. And here I was apprehensive about going!

The only other person there that I knew, though, was Joe Durham. Joe was one of the last Negro League players and coached in the Orioles' system for just about forever. He was with Frederick for 10 years while I was going to the games weekly, so he remembered me and we chatted a bit. But I didn't know anyone else, and the receiving line was huge, so I went home. It just felt really awkward not knowing many people there. But not nearly as awkward as I was afraid of!