Sometimes I want to move to the west coast… then I remember that I would be surrounded by these people.

Mr. Madison, what you’ve just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

I don’t even remember your name, probably because you never told it to me. Even though you told me a lot of other things to do last night because you were theoretically “in charge” last night. Which mostly consisted of second guessing our techniques for deconstructing the walls of the space and screwing things up for the one actual paid worker. Also it was nice of you to not realize when I was joking about getting a free set of lights for my labors and talking to me in an insulting tone. thanks.

I worked my ass off for you. Me and my VOLUNTEER crew worked through 5 floors of Artomatic and removed all the light brackets off the walls. While another crew carried them to a central location and stacked them neatly. Wade and I did the first floor with screwdrivers BY HAND until the cordless drills arrived without any serious complaining. So the reward I get for busting my ass and NOT COMPLAINING?

You talked to me like a fucking child.

Let me recreate the scene for you. We returned to the office sweaty and tired after working as hard as humanly possible for 5 hours on deconstruction. I bought a water for a dollar and stood around waiting to be signed out.
You come in to the office and ask me (with much attitude) “Are all the light brackets stacked in the middle on 5?”
I respond “Yeah, I guess” (with a shrug of the shoulders)
You : “Well is is yes, or is it Yes with a shrug so I have to go back up there and check it myself”

I have never felt more anger in one moment in my entire life, but because I am a good person and NOT ON YOUR LEVEL, I didn’t respond with all the cruel and vile remarks that were filling my head. Also I was shocked that you would treat a volunteer that way.

First… It was your plan to have OTHER PEOPLE in charge of stacking the brackets, NOT ME.
Second… If we hadn’t worked so hard there’s no way we would have come close to finishing the 5th floor.
Third… This is the first day of deconstruction, what does it matter if everything is finished and neat yet?
Fourth… Wade and I are going to be back there tonight, we can just pick up where we left off.

With Artomatic complaining this year about more and more people not showing up for their shifts and even needing people to volunteer extra to help out I suggest that you try and be more civilized towards HARD WORKING VOLUNTEERS. If I wasn’t required to come back tonight there’s no way in hell that I would be helping you.

I love Artomatic and have done a lot to help promote the show. I carved the artomatic logo 100ft tall in my yard, I invited family and friends, and I got 2 of my artist friends to be in the show this year. But for how much I love the show… I loathe the thought of ever having to work with you again.

Mark

I wasn’t sure about these new headphones for the first week. It felt like I needed to clean my ears out every time I listened to music. It’s not like my ears are the cleanest things ever, but I don’t need headphones having uncomfortable ear sex with me every day. Then I realized that I must have small ear canals or something because once I switched to the smaller ear buds everything felt a lot better. Now I can rock out with the black and white goodness of some sweet sweet Smokin Buds.

All Good 2009 will always be remembered for one thing, it’s the place I asked Laurel to marry me. It was on Friday, close to sundown. I had chickened out/drank too much beer on the first night and didn’t ask her. I had been carrying the ring around for a few days trying to find the best time to “pop the question”. It’s not like I didn’t know what the answer was going to be, I just wanted the surprise to be perfect. We had talked about marriage and the ring before so I knew that she wanted to pick out her own engagement ring.

But that’s no fun! I wanted a surprise proposal.

So I found the perfect ring on Etsy, it’s a traditional solitaire diamond shape but artfully cast sound of sterling silver. I loved the mix of traditional shape with unconventional material. She did too!

So on Friday night in front of Erin, Kevin, Mark, Sarah,her brother Adam, and all of All Good I got down on one knee and asked my best friend to spend the rest of her life with me.

There was also music and stuff at this concert…

When I find awesome things ont he internet they are usually horribly expensive. But unfortunatley for my ba nk account this one is only $30… how could I NOT buy it at that price. I know we don’t really have any more wall space… and I just bought a bunch of prints while we were at ALL GOOD… but look at it.

JUST LOOK AT IT DAMMIT

It might be the perfect combination of illustration/nostalgia/printmaking/poster/kitsch… and don’t forget awesome. So now it’s on the way to my house. I’ll have to decide what Kevin Smith poster gets put in storage in favor of this one.

It actually ended last weekend… But I’ve been busy…(more on that later). So it’s over, I’ve delivered most of the works that I sold, but I still have to do my volunteer shifts on the 22nd and 23rd. Obviously this years show was a great success, they had the biggest attendance ever and I think some of the best works ever. I think everyone is really stepping up their game, I think competition is great for the DC art scene. I made some friends and contacts that I’ll have to keep in touch with in the Non-Artomatic months.

It was a really successful show for me personally this year! Not just because I sold about 90% of all the work that I displayed, but because I gained a lot of confidence that I can make, show, and SELL artwork. I’m hoping to break into internet sales by joining Etsy in the coming months. I have talked to a few people on there and I’m excited about the possibilities.

I’ll try to keep posting on my site whenever I have a development.

Mark