Hermon Adams/The Way West August 14, 2009

During the time we toured, Hermon's style of painting was becoming more consistent. He painted various subject matter, including Americana, fantasy to include the ever popular unicorn & space paintings, Native American and wildlife. His horses were fanciful and striking. Hermon really had a grasp of the horse's anatomy. Each time he painted a unicorn, it sold immediately for $85. Once he had painted a black horse bust that went to many shows with us, but would not sell. One of the artists, Francisco, said, as he walked by our display, " Paint a horn on him, Hermon, and he will sell." That is just what he did. So Hemon painted a golden eye and horn on the horse; as soon as he did, a man named Einehorn (German for One Horn) bought it! We were amazed. It seemed he had a magic formula for a sure sale now! That was very exciting!

It was really expensive travelling to the art shows. Not only were there travelling expenses and camping, we had business expenses of show fees, painting materials, display, lighting, frames, ect., on top of normal everyday bills and expenses that everyone has in life. The work was physically hard with all the loading, unloading carrying, putting together a display, with each space being different,framing and hanging the artwork, the long travel time, and set-up time after mall hours. The show would begin the following morning and stay open until the mall closed at 10pm each evening. (It is a good thing we were young. Hermon and I just did a huge show in Ruidoso, NM last month, and it took us two weeks to recover!) When I look back, I honestly don't know how we managed to do it. Hermon was on a mission. I was his sidekick. And we had some great company. Everyone was in the same boat. Everyone looked after one another. We became lifelong friends with a few of the artists and still keep in touch. We had a travelling neighborhood of families, couples, singles, young and old. So it was not lonely or boring.

When it was time for Jim and I to stop travelling and have our baby, the entire group of over fifty people gave me a surprise baby shower to match all baby showers. A meeting had been called, and unbeknownst to me, they had put together this event, refreshments and a conference table piled high with beautifully wrapped packages for our new baby. When we arrived and I realized what this was all about, I turned to Hermon and just cried. All these wonderful people had touched our lives in a special way. I was totally overwhelmed. There was no expense spared; each gift was unbelievable. It was one of the most memorable times of my life! And to get 50+ artists out of bed and to a meeting the morning after we closed down a show! WOW! Were we impressed! It makes me smile to this very day. We went to Auburn, AL, where my folks had rented an apartment for Jim and I to live while Hermon continued his travels. We enjoyed our time near the family. When Baby Robert arrived, August 27, 1978, Hermon called ATA, the Artist Touring Association to tell them and they announced it over the mall loud speaker.

After having discussed the best direction to take the family and career, Hermon decided that we needed to return to Raymond, MS and set up shop in his Dad's old law office down the street from his mother's home. We lived there and ran the studio with baby in playpen and Jim in Kindergarten, until we found a place of our own.

With one hurdle after another, and selling his artwork too cheaply, Hermon decided to spend more time on each painting and raise the prices to reach another clientel. He had also developed a system to mass produce, by hand, his Indian portraits on leather. Some were round with rope and feathers, some were hangings with leather straps, feathers and turquiose embellishment. Hermon and I did the handwork on each piece. We had started our reproduction business on the word of a distributor from Minnesota, who promised to buy all we could make. After a hefty investment, he renegued on our agreement. We had done a Christmas Show in Birmingham, AL, where Hermon's work was very well received and his best works sold. We made several thousand dollars at that show. We took the leather Indians, as we called them, to the Atlanta New Products Market. We didn't have success with that. We did a prestigeous art show in Winston-Salem, NC. No sales. The last ditch effort was a rodeo in New Orleans, where our trailer got stuck in a bog for two days. Our two boys had a great time at the rodeo, but all the customers wanted was a beer and a cowboy hat. In the spring of 1980, every single plan that we had made, fell through one by one. How discourage we were. After much deliberation,planning,and expense, with little return, we packed up our business and our home and left Raymond for a journey west.