It’s Time We Met. Don’t You Think?

I meet at least a dozen blog readers a year – sometimes intentionally (I’ve even driven to Georgia and Mississippi to meet blog friends), and sometimes accidentally, when one of you spots me in public and introduces yourself, which I always adore.

(It’s way way WAY better for you to say hello than comment on a blog post later “I saw you at Target a couple of weeks ago but I didn’t say anything” because then I have to think back and wonder if I’d brushed my hair that day, what I was wearing, if I was irritated with my kids, or if I in general looked too unsavory to speak to.)

I love meeting internet people in real life. After all, some of my best friends formerly only existed on the internet.

So if you’re local-ish, next weekend is one of those opportunities for a face-to-face meeting, and I would really love for you to come say hello!

Where, you say? Downtown – one of my favorite places. I will be showing my Picture Birmingham collection at Birmingham Artwalk on Friday from 5-10pm and Saturday from noon-6pm. I’ll be outside in the parking lot for the Gallery Lofts located at 2412 2nd Avenue North.

Picture Birmingham is my organization through which I sell sunset and skyline pictures of Birmingham and surrounding areas so that I can give 100% of the profits to The WellHouse, a ministry that I have felt called to support.

The ladies at The WellHouse are heroes in one of the biggest yet least known battles of our generation – they are rescuing victims of sex trafficking. As soon as they get a call from a victim that needs their help to escape, they drive or fly to her and take her to their safehouse. From there, they provide for her medical needs, legal needs, physical needs, and help her recover from the trauma in which she’s been trapped. They also help her recover her identification, which is one of the first things a trafficker takes away, yet it is a requirement by almost all other shelters before entry. Because they are one of the only organizations that will do this, they rescue victims from all over the United States and bring them here to heal. They also have a long-term facility where they can house these women and children as they heal.

The world of sex trafficking is worse than you can imagine, the victims are younger than any of us want to grasp, and it’s happening closer than we realize. Their stories constantly shock and devastate me, and I thank God that there are people like those at The WellHouse who have dedicated their life to rescuing and providing new life to people who desperately need their help.

So come to Artwalk. I’ll have a full line of prints, canvases, note cards and postcards available there, all to support The WellHouse, and starting at $1. And I really, really would love to have the opportunity to meet you.

(And if I’ve already met you, then I definitely want to see you again!)

Besides saying hello to me (I get that I’m not that exciting), there are over a hundred other artists as well, great kid’s activities, and really just a fantastic event for a lovely late summer weekend.

We were attendees last year, and Ali was fascinated by the Birmingham Fashion Truck (MUCH more exciting than food trucks),

Noah was the recipient of a commissioned Tattoo from famous Birmingham artist Vero, which he still regularly tries to get me to reproduce,

(but I can’t, because nobody can make a robot as whimsical as Vero can,)

and both kids thoroughly enjoyed the leaf-painting activity.

So come. PLEASE come. It’s a free event, it’s a fantastic event, and I need to see some familiar faces. Or faces that are not-yet-but-are-now-familiar.

I hope to see you in a few days!

p.s. – if you can’t come and would still like to support The WellHouse, you can always shop Picture Birmingham online, as well as make a donation to The WellHouse. Thank you all for your support!