It all starts somewhere

Sunday I was contacted through email by a gentleman named Roger, wanting me to donate a print of my painting, "Heaven and Earth" for a charity auction.  The Auction is for a little boy, who is 3 years old, lives in Price, Utah, and has been diagnosed with Acute Limphoblastic Leukemea-ALL. He will be undergoing numerous procedures to battle this disease such as spinal taps to inject Chemo into his spinal fluid, blood transfusion, etc. over the next 3 years.

It all sounded legitimate but these days I'm a little leery about being asked to donate art from close encounters with some scams.  So I asked for more information into who he is and what is his affiliation to the family putting on the auction.  He asked if we could talk on the phone and I decided that would be easiest for me too. 

Before he called I did research into the boy.  I Found the auction event and a blog right away.  I read it all and found it to be very legitimate.  So when Roger called I was ready.  He told me how he and his family met the Timothy family, through softball and staying in each others homes.  He told me a little about his background.  Then told me how he found out about my art through the Brimley Studios website and that he and his daughter just enjoyed the "Heaven and Earth" painting. 

I told him that after discussing the issue with my wife that I decided not to give a print to the auction but to instead paint an original Wildlife painting and give the original away to be auctioned off.  Needless to say he was very excited.  I also told him that anyone who buys a print of that painting, I'll give 50% of the proceeds to the family up to a year after the event.  This made him greatly touched. 

Roger currently works for a framing company so I don't need to worry about a frame.  Which I'm excited about.  I'm always looking for contacts with good framers.

So I've been spending the last couple of days working out an idea of what to paint, the size and what to paint it on.  I think I'm going to go bigger than my standard size.  I'm thinking around 24 x 30 inches.  A good chunky size.  With a frame it will be a nice auction piece.  I'm going to paint it on canvas board.  As to the subject, an Elk.  I've been wanting lately to do a painting of an Elk bugling.  So now I'm off and sketching.  Working on various ideas.   Whether I include a few cows or keep him solitary is yet to be determined by the overall balance and feel I'm looking for.

Early sketches of elk painting

Over the next month or so I'll be blogging about the progress of this painting, the auction and the reception of it.  So I guess I'm inviting you all to come along with me through this blog and see what it is like to be an artist as I work on this project.