GenCon 2011 Approaches: Descending into Madness

Extra unused prints strewn about the room, canvas prints sitting out to dry, boxes of all shapes and sizes stacked in every available space, a tiny cascade of odd supplies and extra boxes tumbling into the hallway, business cards and postcards sitting out waiting to be packed, the thick smell of varnish lingering in the air, Gen Con is almost here.

Just a little more than a week till GenCon and still so much to do! Ahhhhhhh! This weekend I stretched my canvas prints onto their wooden frames, which I made, touched them up in some areas with paint, and coated them with a thin layer of varnish.

The dwarf print on the far left is still to be stretched and then the others are stretched and waiting for varnish.

My drawing board converted into a workstation for stretching canvas. You can see the frames I made here.

It is much cheaper to stretch them oneself then to pay others to do it, though it does take up more time. I am extremely happy with the way they turned out and am getting excited with hopefully how my table will look. It continues to be a mad rush for me, but the feverish pace is nice and a lot is getting accomplished.
I’ve also continued to work on the last few paintings I would like done for my portfolio at GenCon, ordering prints to sell and a new table runner/sign, which hopefully does not print too dark. I’ve bought frames for a couple large size prints that I will be having made this week that will be displayed on my wall at the Con. One thing that I have learned in preparing for conventions is that one has to constantly adapt to changed plans and situations without freaking out, and these changes all seem to happen in the final hours. One thing that helps me to keep everything organized and semi-on-track is that I take a half-hour or so every day to take stock of what I’ve finished and what still needs to be done. This helps to tame the madness and makes everything manageable. Plus, it’s encouraging to see everything coming together. As my to-do list shrinks in size the nervousness is lessening and the excitement is growing. Now if I can just get these last few paintings finished over the next couple days and hopefully the local print-shop that I use has had their printer fixed X).

Back to painting. I’ll have another update soon once I go pick up some special items from the print-shop. Hope you all have a great week!