Well FC15 has come on gone for me and I just want to take a moment while memories are still fresh in my mind to give my take on the weekend. First the good things.
First off I want to thank those who purchased work of mine in the art show. I brought six pieces and only came home with two. True it was small show for me in terms of total pieces, but in light of events over the last twelve months I am proud of the work I was able to hang in the show.
Also I want to thank Ch’marr and his crew for once again put on such a well ran show. Every year they strive to make the process more and more stress-free and this was most trouble-free FC art show to date. Registration for the show was trivial, filling out my paperwork online was a breeze, they had the room ready early Thursday evening and when I picked up my unsold pieces on Sunday they had a check waiting for me. That money will be instrumental in helping Smudge Marks & Engel Werks with first of the year expenses. Once again thanks for a job well done.
Since I was not tied to a specific location in con this year, I had no table in the Dealers Room; I was able to attend more panels this year. Several were rather meh, but a couple very enjoyable and informative. Mandi’s panel Sunday on Drawing Successful Expression was a blast and it was standing room only for it. Then later Sigil gave a good discussion on the do’s and don’ts of Patreon. FYI. I will be starting a Patreon account this year once I decided how I want to go about it.
It was also great being able to chat with people and get caught with folks who I have not seen in a year. In particular I want to thank Rozga, Valden, Jurrell and Banner for joining us for dinner Saturday night and then shooting the breeze with Dave and I late into the evening.
Now for bad things.
Once again the Marriot Hotel felt compelled to pump gallons of air freshener into the air circulation system. This is one of the biggest reasons why Smudge had to bow out of attending this year. In past years the perfumes wafting through the hotel have poleaxed her and left her feeling ill for days if not weeks later. By not attending this year we are cautiously optimistic that if she does not get sick this winter then perhaps she’ll be better shape to deal with heavy pollen load in the spring. This was a strategy her and her allergist decided on last autumn, and I know that if in the long haul she’s healthier I’ll be happy but I missed not having her at the con.
I know that for many fursuiting, and the parades at cons are integral parts of why they are members of the community and go to conventions, but the fursuit parade has now grown to the point where for an hour or more on Saturday it utterly takes over the con to the point where movement throughout the hotel and convention center becomes almost impossible. I don’t have any immediate answer to the dilemma but wish some more elegant solution could be found.
A lack of adequate parking at the Convention Center. This one is trickier since we seem to be shadowed by the girls volleyball tournament that always ends up being on the same weekend of FC no matter weekend in January the con staff decides on. It didn’t impact me too much this year since I was not in the Dealers Room and had a modest presence in the art show, but heard several other artists and dealers grumble about lack of onsite parking. The only solution I can see to that problem might be moving FC to February.
Will I be back next year? Hell yeah! The FC staff put on a wonderful con, and no venue is perfect. In spite that FC staff does the best it can to give us all a great weekend. Now I must get back to work and start preparing for Babscon.
