For pity's sake...

LSCC MARCH UPDATE

...so there's about a week to go until the con. Most of the pre con commissions are finished. 

I'll be at table A58. Should be easier to find than last year when I didn't have a sign, a banner, or an assigned table. *see below for the story of LSCC 2013

I'm sharing the table with Russell Payne from the Kirby museum. He'll have some posters of Jack and the money from sales will go to the Kirby museum. He's also got a talk on the Saturday at 5pm.

As I've mentioned previously, I've got a limited number of sketches I can do each day at the con. They're free. But as I'm usually booked up way before the con begins, this year, to give everyone who wants one a chance, I'm asking that people come up on the day of the con and get on the list. 

I'll have a selection of sketches for sale, a range of different characters. A mix of A4 and A3, all in copics. I've also got some Marvel painted covers for sale, World War Hulk and an X-Men one. 

So, pop over and say hi. I'll be there all day, both days. 

*I was skiing in Scotland the week before the con last Feb. I gave all my artwork to my friend Russ (see above) so I didn't have to take it skiing. The plan was to get a train from Scotland, meet him in Preston and drive down in his car to Colchester, Russ having brought all my art, booklets, posters etc with him.

So, we make good time, get to Colchester just after midnight. We were going to Colchester to my friend Larry's house (he's the one who people think is Mike Collins, no idea what they think when Mike is with us) and then driving to the con the Saturday morning.

So I got out my folders to show Larry the new stuff I'd done and also give him the pre con sketches he'd asked me to do. Except the folder with all the commissions in it wasn't there. We spent an hour looking for it. Then Russ denied ever seeing it. 

I was panicking now. There was a lot of work in the folder...a heck of a lot. I remembered handing the folder to Russ, seeing it on the back seat of his car before I went skiing. He didn't. One of us was wrong. More importantly, where was the folder?

Russ phoned home, his wife, at 130am, was happy to look for it, behind the fridge, under the couch etc. Nothing. Phoned her again, she had another look, nothing...

Then Russ developed a few theories. One of his daughters' friends had stolen it. Or, it had fallen out of the car into the street outside his house, he hadn't noticed and had been put in a bin...or his favourite, I never gave it to him. 

So, after a few more calls and having a massive laugh about the situation, we went to sleep about 3am. Larry would wake us at 7 and we'd see what we could do in the morning...

Larry came to wake us at 6. But I hadn't slept. Russ snored, the heating was on all night and the central heating pipes banged incessantly all night.

Russ waited until 730 and then phoned home. His youngest daughter told him that the folder was where he put it to keep it safe, on top of the cupboard in the back room. Russ still had no recollection of ever seeing it. Relief. The folder of art still existed.

So, how to get the folder to London? 

I phoned my friend Aidy. He can do stuff.  He went to Russ' house, got on a train and arrived at the Excel centre just after midday. He had a great time pretending the art was his on the way down, upgraded to first class on the way back. Good day out.

So, I only lost half a day, had the art, the commissions etc back! I was at a table where I wasn't advertised as being and had no banner or even a sign. But that's another story.

On the Sunday evening we chatted for a while in the bar of the hotel with some artists and friends and then set off home. We needed to drop Larry in Colchester, about as far East as you can get from Lancashire in the UK. After that we headed North West. We were doing fine until, heading towards Kettering, Russ decided, for no good reason at all, to turn left onto the motorway and head back to London. It's a decision he still can't explain to this day. 

We tried to get off the motorway and retrace our steps. The hour we spent trying to get out of Cambridge was amusing at first. But then it started getting late. There were lots of people riding round on bikes in Cambridge, dressed as old school students. Probably been riding round since the '50's looking for a way out.

We thought of just knocking on someone's door and asking for food and shelter for the night...but eventually we stumbled on an exit from the place. 

We got home at 230am.

This year we planned to go on the train, there's a stop literally feet from the entrance to the Excel centre.

But our friend Scott is driving instead. I'm sure it'll be ok...