I usually preview a show but as I’m driving home from Rockville Maryland today, I’m here to give you the inside scoop on what it’s like when a show takes a nose dive. I applied to this show thinking it was similar to Bethesda, which I didn’t get juried into this year and Northern Virginia at Reston, which I did. It wasn’t. Last week I posted on “Art Girls” when I had a suspicion that this show might not be what it’s cracked up to be. The director, a seasoned show promoter who I thought was in charge of Bethesda also, so what could go wrong? Come to find out she left Bethesda last year to focus on Rockville. She was great though, in terms of organization. She runs a tight ship. Not sure advertising was part of that ship though... but it could have been the weather. The show started at 11am each day and went to 5pm, Unfortunately, we pulled the short straw and had to set up at 4am. We had driven up that day from Knoxville (7 hours), and we were tired already. Luckily, we got to pair this trip with visiting my older brother Bob, and his wife, Susan, which with my busy schedule I get to see far too infrequently. So it was great to visit. Emma, my niece came over with her new husband Jake and it was a great dinner and visit. Bleary eyed, David and I thought we would throw the tent up then come back later to set up. But when we got in the groove we just kept going and set up everything. We came back to Bob’s house around 8:30ish and took a fast shower then headed right back. It was misting rain but by 12 it had cleared up and was overcast but warm. The crowds... where were the crowds? We also realized we were on an offshoot road from the Main Street and people missed us entirely. It was not looking good. The biggest thing though was that there was no interest from the people there. Not too many packages walking by and nobody selling much of anything. The two guys on either side of me, a photographer and a wood “cutting board” artist did zip all weekend and many more besides. I made a whopping 400 dollars, with nothing going off the wall and the only thing saving me, my funny smalls. It was disappointing. It was also puzzling since it was a high end upscale town with lots of expensive looking apartment complexes where I usually do very well. The next day, Sunday, started with a hard cold rain that never let up. All I can say is thank god there was a Starbucks across the street because that’s all I did all day was drink hot coffee to try to stay warm. It was awful and nobody was there. As an artist I knew this was a possibility but DC is a big area and I was hoping all week that the rain might miss us. No such luck. We were suppose to go till 5pm but they shut the show at 4 because it was getting worse( not sure that was even possible). Lots of artists left early. I kinda wish I had too, but I’m too much of a coward. I should have. Broke down in the pouring rain and hit the awning with one of the pro-panel poles and about 4gallons of water fell on top of my head, ( as if I wasn’t wet enough), Yea, it was funny.... for about a minute until it wasn’t because it was also so darn cold outside. I think I’ll remember in the future not to do that again. Overall thoughts: Shows are fickle things and just because the last show was great doesn’t mean the next one will be. It’s sort of like the Kentucky Derby this weekend, just because you win, doesn’t mean you really win. There are just too many invariables. So doing shows, is akin to a betting situation sometimes. I knew it, I knew I was going to a bad show last week when I put it out online. I just didn’t trust my instincts. But if you don’t take chances, you never know do you? And, you never grow. So, money is tight for the next two weeks and then David and I will hopefully bite the bear back in Reston, Va. In between, if anyone needs a painting-ha! Let me know.