With Chris driving, I’m free to use the travel time from Jacksonville to research the galleries in Atlanta so I can map out how I wanna hit ’em once we arrive. I’m feeling a little overwhelmed. The last time I did this was in Delray Beach and – though it worked out for me there – I’m a little nervous to be going to a city with galleries that actually have a never-ending stream of hopeful artists submitting themselves for consideration. I think my strengths may also be my weaknesses but that’s okay. I already know I’m not for everyone. I’m not emailing a PDF with images of my work and a résumé highlighting my fine arts education. I’m walking in, off the street, in my tattered, paint-covered clothes, with my fliers, prints, and stories. I’m walking in as me. I don’t want to be accepted as anything other than what I am. My work is excellent. It’s likely that most of these galleries won’t give me a moment of their time but I don’t need most of them to. I just need one – one that understands what I’m doing, why it’s great, and why it’s worth their attention.

I believe in myself; everything is going to be okay.

I’m going to work on that artwork I owe Mike for Dead Broke now.

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Here’s a drawing I made for another artist the other day. He didn’t want a print and couldn’t afford the original so we compromised and I scratched out this “update”/”variation” for a fair price.

The key differences between it and the original original are (1) the label on the can and (2) the fact that it took me just a few minutes and not a full hour. That means I’m getting better, you guys.