THE ART OF BUYING ART: Commissions for Charity

The Request:

“I am running a charity auction and I would love to have one of your large paintings for the auction as I think we can make a good profit from its sale. Can you do that?”

Well, that was a first.

A prominent Toronto Charity commissioned me to paint a large painting that they would then put on auction at their annual fund-raising event. I thought this was a great idea. In this case we agreed that the bigger it was it would fetch more money for charity, so we agreed on a 48”x60”. That was the only direction I was given.

Of course, when you have no direction, it can actually be more difficult because the options are endless. So, it did take me quite a while to settle on a concept.

As I do like to incorporate the passage of time in many of my paintings I decided to play with the concept of morning and evening twilight in one work using multiple horizon lines. I also thought that it should use a wide range of colours so it would be suitable in many different decors.

Here is the finished work which entitled “The Transits of Twilight” to connote the passage of time from early morning to early evening.

The client was delighted, and the work sold for a sizable profit for the charity.

So, are running a charitable auction please feel free to contact me to discuss creating a one-of-a-kind artwork that can garner lots of high bids!!

Cheers

Dan

Dan is a Toronto based award winning artist who has been painting for over 25 years. Dan’s passion is interpreting the primordial images of sky, horizon and water as viewed through the child-like-eyes of our prehistoric ancestors…images which are now burned into our modern collective unconscious. Dan imagines how these images were experienced and translates them into an atmospheric, minimalistic and somewhat surrealistic style representing the essence of what has enthralled us for millennia. Collectors of Dan’s artwork often describe the visual experience as: “Walking into a dream. This is the most serene, peaceful and ethereal art we have ever seen."