The trip was wonderful from start to finish. Jon started his summer with a long roadtrip on his brand new limited edition Ducati. That trip ended in m back yard, where he left his bike and we embarked on our long drive to San Diego (by way of Bakersfield and our first pit stop). The rental car made the trip in near record time, although I did my best to keep our speed under 90mph. As mentioned above, that night we had dinner with some members of Jon’s extended family at probably my favorite eatery on the planet, Woolgrowers Basque Restaurant. I had a huge plate of delicious roast lamb (as well as unlimited spaghetti, soup, salad, and fries). Needless to say, my subsequent food coma made it very easy to fall asleep that night.

The next morning, we set off for SD with some yummy blueberry muffins and fruit that Nana got for us. The traffic was surprisingly light, or at least not as heavy as in past years and again, we made pretty good time getting to our south bay motel. We checked in, unloaded the car, and headed off to catch the trolley to downtown. Once we got to the convention center, we had to coordinate with our respective sponsors to get our exhibitor badges, then the fun started.

We spent most of preview night just trying to figure out where everything and everyone was. One of the most exciting and anticipated moments for me was seeing my Claire Bear again. Claire is Mitch’s youngest daughter. And up until about 8 years ago, she was coming to the show pretty regularly. I love Claire and really missed her when she stopped coming to the con. When Mitch told me at the end of last year’s show that Claire was going to come this year, I was elated. Anyway, long story short, not only did we have a wonderful reunion, I had the added pleasure of meeting Claire’s new husband Elliott. Elliott could not have been more warm or friendly and I liked him immediately. The three of us had a lovely lunch on Friday, where we did a lot of catching up. They make a great couple and I couldn't be happier for them.

The other person I was most looking forward to seeing was my good friend Olivier Delflas from Belgium. The muscles from Brussels. Oli and I have been friends on CAF almost since I joined. And although we did finally meet face to face at Comic Con, that was quite a few years ago and he has not gone since. While I would like to think that seeing me was the main reason he wanted to come this year, I think it had more to do with the terror attacks in Brussels and Oli just wanting to get away from all that ugliness. In any case, it was wonderful seeing him again. Oli is planning a little road trip while he’s stateside, including a visit to SF with a stop at my house. Can’t wait to have him sitting in my living room going over my art collection.

Art wise, the con was chock full of great artwork. The latest auction offerings were featured at the Heritage booth. While the Profiles In History booth featured the private collection of acclaimed Director Frank Darabont. Profiles also featured the piece that I considred Best In Show, Barry Windsor-Smith’s Artemis and Apollo. In a few short days, someone is going to own that incredible piece of art. I don’t know who that is, but I do know that I will be eternally jealous. I must’ve gone back to the Profiles booth at least a dozen times to stare at that beauty. Hard to imagine that was made with human hands.

Anyway, I could go on and on about all the great artwork at the show, all the wonderful chats I had with various friends, and what a fun con it was, but unfortunately I’m probably closing in on my word limit for these descriptions (didn‘t even get to talk about the great Italian restaurant we found). Thanks again to all involved in making it such a special time for me and Jon. Hope to see many of you again next year.

Social/Sharing