Here I am at the Residence Inn in Pleasant Hill, which is about a half-hour east of San Francisco. Tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday I’ll be about ten minutes south in Walnut Creek doing their spring art festival. We used to live here in the late 1980’s and come back for occasional visits, so I more or less know the area, which is handy.

The Residence Inn is nice because it is in a quiet area and the room has a full-kitchen. So, I hit the Whole Foods store this afternoon. I won’t have to eat out unless I want to, which will save money.

I have no idea what to expect with the economy heading into the tank. Gas down here for the premium grade I need for the Eurovan is running around $4.10/gal. Home foreclosures are off the charts. A well-known wildlife artist once described himself in a workshop I took with him as “a luxury goods manufacturer”, which is probably about right. Serious buyers of art tend to have fairly recession proof incomes, but there is so much uncertainty in the world right now. Food riots, for heaven’s sake. So, we’ll see how it goes.

On the (much) brighter side, I got a “VIP” personal tour of Andrew Denman’s one-man show at Pacific Wildlife Galleries this morning from the artist himself. It’s fascinating to stand in front of one of his originals and hear him talk about how he did the work. Very inspirational. Made me want to run home and get in front of the easel, but since I get home on Monday and leave for Montana and Colorado on Thursday for a week, it will be close to the middle of May before that happens.

But, this weekend, I’ll get to meet lots of nice people and talk about one of the things I love most, painting!