Competitions, Crooks
& Cannelloni
Never say the life of an artist is dull. Competition deadlines seem to come in waves and I had three two weeks ago. No sooner had I completed and submitted one application than I had several more paintings to create, photograph, and submit. The first show rejected everything I submitted. The second show accepted everything I submitted. The entry deadline for the third show — the Western States Horse Expo art show — was tomorrow and I had barely started California Cowpony. It took all day and all evening to finish it. I was moving much too slow.
After I finally put down my brush for the day, I opened the art show prospectus to double check everything. I nearly cried. Most art shows applications are online. The deadlines are at midnight and you simply upload a digital image of the artwork. This show required an actual paper entry with actual hard-copy photographs that had to be mailed. I had not only lost more than eight hours of painting time, I also had to figure out how to get the entry form and photographs of the finished artwork printed and in the mail by 5:00 p.m.
I started painting The Pickup Men early the next morning. It was meticulous preservation of the light areas interspersed with the frenzied throwing of paint on paper for over eight hours straight — no breaks for food or stretching or checking my phone. With one last splashing finale where I freehanded the shape of the bronc rider onto the paper, I put my brushes down and grabbed the camera. Minutes later photos of the two paintings were sent to Walgreens and by the time I dressed (yes, I was in my pajamas all day) they were ready for pickup. I grabbed my phone, pen, and entry form and flew out the door.
Click. My keys! I had just locked myself out of the house. It was 3:30. Ninety minutes left. Was my boyfriend home yet? I called him and 20 minutes later he picked me up and I was back in business with daylight to spare!
At Walgreens, the adrenalin rush of the day faded as we picked up my photos, chose a few movies, and grabbed some snacks. We were just checking out at the cash register when the store manager, standing by the front door, said, “Wow! Really?,” as two men and a woman, arms loaded and carrying baskets full of merchandise, walked right past him and out the door. When we got outside, they were heading around the corner of the building. They had parked far enough away that management couldn’t grab the license plate number.
As we walked across the parking lot, we watched them sauntering leisurely away. The woman dropped something and unhurriedly picked up before disappearing around the corner. My boyfriend opened the car door for me and then backed the car out going the wrong way. The post office was in the other direction. It took me a few seconds to realize what was going on. “You’re seeing where they went aren’t you?”
“Yup,” was all he said.
We rounded the corner of Walgreens just in time to see the thieves climb into a black SUV that was waiting around back. They disappeared behind a building and by the time we rounded the corner, they were out of sight. Just as we passed the building we saw them making a right turn onto the busy street to the left. By the time we made the turn, we were several cars behind them, but close enough to get the license plate number before they turned right onto another busy street. A red light stopped them in the left turn lane up ahead and this time we were right behind them.
All of a sudden, my boyfriend rolls his window down and starts waving wildly and pointing to the SUV. What the what? I couldn’t see the highway patrol officer on a motorcycle sitting at the red light in the middle lane of oncoming traffic. As we followed the SUV through the light, the officer’s head cocked quizzically. Then, he turned on his lights, and merged in between us and the SUV. As the SUV turned into an apartment complex parking lot, the officer turned around and asked what was going on. The boyfriend said that they robbed a store so he followed them behind the apartment buildings.
By the time we followed them, the officer had the two men and woman sitting on the ground behind the SUV. He was still trying to figure out what was going on (since we weren’t Loss Prevention) when the boyfriend got the Walgreens manager on the line who was able to give a description of the crooks.
Over the next half hour, more highway patrol officers showed up, the driver was removed from the vehicle (we didn’t even know there was a fourth person), and the crooks were staring us and our vehicle down. We moved out of sight where we met the Walgreens manager who was flabbergasted.
“This never happens!”
“Yes, we’ll press charges.”
The officer thanked the boyfriend multiple times. Apparently they were bad people who’ve done bad things before and they needed to be off the streets. He was asked to stick around to give a statement directly to the sheriff since they would be the ones handling the case so I took the car, went to the post office, and got my art show entry in the mail.
When I returned, the boyfriend was waiting around the corner of the building and I never did see what all was going on. He wanted to keep me out of sight. We waited until one of the deputies came to talk to us. With a “thank you” and a “you’ll answer this number if I call?” we skeddadled to go ride horses, eat Italian food, and watch a movie — the perfect way to conclude a long work week!
Oh, and by the way, the paintings were accepted. See you all at the Western States Horse Expo June 8-10!
