AC2019 Part IIII
Well. After the whirlwind of activity that was Friday and Saturday, Sunday was looking like a more laid-back, wind-up-the-weekend kind of day. Another quick breakfast in our room (think that was the morning we broke into the apple pies), then down to the Dealers’ Room for me to spend a Morning with Art. I’d yet to place any bids at all on the Art Show offerings, and with the event closing at noon, that left me with two hours to bear down and really make thorough inspection sweeps through all the cubicles to see what I might seriously consider bidding on. If I was less than blown away by my first rounds on Friday night during the Artists and Dealers’ Reception, closer looks on Saturday and now Sunday morning turned up a number of, well, maybe not “must haves” but certainly “would be nice to own’s”. My co-panelists Skarlath and Steve Gallacci both had pieces in the Show, the former eventually selling a large raccoon painting and the latter eliciting spirited bidding on any number of pieces (including from yours truly). My chance to nab a Gallacci original would have to wait until later in the day, but I enjoyed greater success with my first-ever Diana Harlan Stein, my third-ever Mehndi, my third-ever Bill Holbrook, my second-ever (at auction) Tani DaReal, and a small piece that caught my eye from a brand-new artist I’d never heard of before, Padma Bhujaga aka SoulsPoison, that reminded me a little of Ursula Vernon’s famous “Saints” series. With all these bids (and a few others) in place, I started making faster and faster rounds through the Art Show as high noon approached, to see how my bids were holding up. Turned out they were holding up fairly well, although I did end up getting outbid on a second Tani piece I was entertaining along with all the Gallacci’s, save one which garnered eight bids and was thus kicked over to the live voice auction at 2:00. When they started closing the show, moving from cubicle to cubicle, I stayed in the thick of the mob as much as I could to defend my bids, but in the end really needn’t have bothered; they all stood up. Still, one never knows whether one might be outbid until the literal final moment, so I was there on my feet until 12:45 when the final panel was taped off by the Art Show staff and placed off-limits to further bids. This event always leaves me as tired as just about any part of AC, but usually also with a flush of victorious adrenaline as well, glowing from the satisfaction of bid well placed and new arts acquired.
I honestly forget what I did to kill the time between 12:45 and 2:00; I may have wandered around the Dealers’ Room a bit, but usually I’m just looking to get off my feet after the trial of the Art Show closing. Might have headed back to the room for my final MexiCoke break of the weekend, but in any event I was seated and in place in time for the first lot of the Live Voice Auction. Often I just observe this event, while a few times I’ve waded in and “bid big” to get special pieces (like a couple of my Blotches) but usually it’s somewhere in the middle. Last year I made no bids at all in the Voice Auction, but this time around I wanted to make a play for the Steve Gallacci that eluded me in the General Auction. Uncle Kage was the auctioneer for the piece when it came up - only logical, since it was an original art piece by a Guest of Honor - and when it stalled at a price far below what I was willing to pay, I jumped in and slammed my high bid on it, thinking that would scare off all competitors. Unfortunately (although not so unfortunate for Mr. Gallacci), bidding was not done yet, and while I did end up winning the piece moments later, it was for a higher price than I’d hoped to spend for it. Ah well; it’s all about supporting the artists, isn’t it? Although if I’d known then what would transpire later in the day …
The auction drew to a close as the clock neared three, and that left me only an hour before the Dealers’ Room closed for the final time in 2019, so I headed down there for my final scouting through all the Dealerness. It was then that I hit up Tani at her table for another five pencil sketches culled from a still-plentiful selection of still-available works in her binder. (Srsly, people? Tani ORIGINALS, at clearance prices, still unclaimed going into the con’s final hour??? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU???). I also picked up what I thought were the Ursula Vernon books I’d not acquired at previous cons (may have been wrong about one or two of them) and took them over to her table to have her sign them. While at the SofaWolf table, I found myself being chatted up by Tempe O’kun, author of the Sixes Wild novels (and who can resist a gunslinger bunny?) and he convinced me to spring for another of his novels not part of the Sixes series. *sigh* Every year I tell myself I’m not going to buy more books at AC, and yet every year I do. BUT, an even more noteworthy development emerged from my time with Mr. O’kun. I happened to ask him whether he would have any issue with me asking ShinigamiGirl, cover artist for his Sixes novels, if she could do a commission of that hare character for me. Tempe then revealed that the third Sixes novel is in the pipeline, and SG will indeed once again be doing the cover and interior art for it, and they might both be amenable to adding an unplanned-for illustration to the novel if I were to commission and pay for it. Hey, I was just looking to nab an original art piece of the character/artist of one of my all-time favorite pieces of furry art, but to now have it be an actual published piece appearing in the third novel? Where do I sign up?!
The weeks and months ahead will reveal whether anything comes of that proposal, but I did not have to wait any longer to claim my Art Show Auction winnings. Or, actually, I would, but not just because of the VERY long checkout line of participants claiming their art. When I went to collect my treasure from the walls, I had no trouble gathering up five of them, but the sixth seemed to be missing - namely, Mr. Holbrook’s Kevin & Kell piece. When I asked one of the staff about this, he replied that he was pretty sure he saw Bill checking all his “unsold” pieces and taking them back to his table in the Dealers’ Room. Fortunately, it was still a few minutes before 4:00, so I sprinted (well, semi-sprinted) back out there and hunted down Bill at his table, where he looked up at me hopefully and asked if I had decided to buy a book or two from him. I was like, “No, you ninny, I bid on one of your Art Show pieces, and you took it down before I could pay for it!” Now, I appreciate modesty in most forms, but to be SO convinced that your pieces didn’t garner any bids that you actually remove them all from the show without even checking the bid sheets, well … but what really got me was that the Art Show staffer who checked him out must not have checked the bid sheets either, so that was a double ball drop. Anyway, Bill and I waited while the discarded bid sheet was retrieved and reattached to the piece, with my written bid clearly showing on the first line. Took a while, and then there was that LONG line I had to stand in to check out and pay for my purchases, but in the end it was all well that ends well, and my collection is further enriched, just as it seems to be every year around this time.
As is my wont, I proceeded immediately to my hotel room with my Arts and the last of my Dealers’ Room purchases for 2019, seeking to deposit it all safely there and rest up a bit before the Closing Ceremonies, which this year were scheduled for 6:00. Grabbed a few nibbles, just to tide me over, then Soggy and I headed down to the DLCC for one last time to hear the final numbers. For the first time ever, AC attendance topped 9,000 this year, and we also set a new record for the Fursuit Parade/Photo (a little over 2,000, not sure of the exact number). We raised $46,000 for PEARL Parrot Rescue (let’s hope that saves a lot of birds!) and probably got more (mostly positive) media coverage than ever before. There was even some talk of forming some kind of liaison or partnership with one of the local network news affiliates, to make them the “official” news outlet for all things Anthroconian. There was also word of a new attendance level above Supersponsor, tentatively called “UltraSponsor,” but we’ll see what comes of THAT. (Unless the perks are REALLY good, I can’t see more but a few of the most well-heeled of attendees springing for that.) Overall, it was a decent official end to this year’s con, with the expected revelations of tallies and figures along with a few tasty morsels of things to come … including that AC 2020 will also fall over the July 4th weekend, so maybe this time we’ll be able to watch the fireworks again from the fully-renovated DLCC roof.
Now, one reason I nibbled but lightly in the room beforehand was to keep a free appetite for our Sunday Night Farewell Dinner, which Soggy bowed out of last year due to Things. Sunday morning, before heading down to the Art Show Auction, I got in touch with Dave F (yes, that Dave F) to see if he’d be up for joining us for dinner in the city, and he’d indicated he was, so we’d agreed to meet up at the Westin Hotel restaurant (Bill’s Bar & Burger) right at 7:00. Dave was a little early, as were we, so it all worked out, except that none of us had thought to make reservations, so we had to wait about twenty minutes up in the Tiger’s Den on the second floor until Dave’s phone buzzed. The restaurant didn’t look ALL that crowded, so maybe the wait was more due to the amount of available help than available seats. Worse yet, as we’d been scanning the menu outside the restaurant waiting for Dave, Soggy and I saw no sign of any fresh salmon on the list, which was a shame, since he’d raved about it so two years ago. But we took it for what it was, let the wait staff show us to our table, and placed our orders - blue cheese burger for Dave, reuben for Soggs and a chicken sandwich for yours truly, with a shake for each of us. The food was better than I remember it being at this joint (and I remembered it being pretty good) and the shakes were divine. A great way to cap off a wonderful weekend!
After dinner Dave accompanied us back to our room to see some of my latest hoard; he’s a bit of a collector himself, if not in the areas I specialize in, and could thus show some appreciation for my various works. I then escorted Dave back to the parking garage elevators and saw him off (until next year, unless he visits Glen Rock sometime between now and then) and then headed to the Zoo to see if Steve Gallacci might be making one final appearance there before the con fully called it quits. Did a full circuit of that very large and very crowded ballroom, but he was nowhere to be seen, so I started back to the Courtyard, only to encounter my wayward GoH himself on the street with a few admirers, heading to the very Zoo I’d just left. Talk about a missed opportunity just barely avoided! Timing really is everything! Now, it turned out the Zoo had been in the DLCC all weekend, but with the con officially closed it had been relocated to the third floor of Westin, and thus Steve had no idea how to get there, whereupon I instantly appointed myself his willing guide.
And nearly two hours later, it was all I could do to tear myself away from him to get back to the Courtyard. Finding seats for ourselves in the Zoo (with a table pretty much to ourselves), he’d immediately begun pulling out his various sketchbooks and other Artistic Things, encouraging me to flip through them if it pleased me to do so. It certainly did, and that pleasure only grew when I realized all three sketchbooks were packed with almost nothing but illustrations for his various “Zootopia” fanfics (along with a few he’d done as favors for a few select fanfics by his fellow authors). There … was … so … much … Zootopia … art … to … be … seen. (And drooled over, although I somehow avoided soiling any of the pages.) Now, Steve had had a few “Zootopia”-themed pieces in the Art Show auction, some clearly depicting Nick and Judy (and not for sale for legal reasons) and others showing fox and rabbit duos reminiscent of the Disney characters without actually “being” them (thank the fates for loopholes!). Disappointed that I’d missed out on any of those during the morning’s bidding, that disappointment now turned to elation with the bevy of wonderful images parading before my eyes now, and the confirmation from Steve that he would indeed consider parting with some of them. I could have run back to my hotel room and raided my supply of thus-unspent funds to absolutely deplete his sketchbooks, but I satisfied myself with what I had in my pocket, which was still enough to land me five prime examples from those pages. In all truth, there might have been some sketches even better than the ones I selected, but after hearing Steve talk about his various fanfics and the work he’d put into them, some of the best renderings simply struck me as too special to deprive him of, so I tried to pick ones he’d not miss as much or feel so invested in. I also assured him that, if he ever needed access to them again in future, I’d be happy to lend them back to him - on a temporary basis, of course. So, with the clock nearing ten, I finally headed back to the Courtyard, this final finishing point to my weekend leaving me walking on air.
Soggs was already in bed with the lights mostly out when I got back, and I was not long behind him. We’d discussed a 6:00 wake-up to shoot for a 7:00 getaway, so that meant an early retirement. Needless to say, I went to bed quite happy.