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If I had wanted to do pet portraits I would have been deluged.
Actually, I did have success at past charity auctions. The first one led to an upgrade to an executive portrait of one of the wealthiest men in the state. It in on my site, the gentleman leaning on a post with his fingers on his chin. He LOVED it then and ten years later loves it better.
A reminder that a person is not getting any more attractive as time passes, subtly indicated can be a nudge to get the portrait project off the ground. Do NOT say, "What! Waiting for plastic surgery", is NOT subtle.
A friend of mine called me one day to ask if I had a drawing for a charity auction for breast cancer. As my mother died from that I said yes. She drove up and grabbed the quick unframed study which went at the auction for $1800. A couple of months later the purchaser bought the finished painting "Dakini" which is on this site for considerably more.
Last summer at Trees' Place a very nice gallery on the Cape I overheard this conversation. The gallery owner was very upset that some of his artists were auctioning off their pieces in charity events for prices LESS than he was selling them for. He said this was happening quite often and was leading him to reevaluate these artists participation in his gallery. In some auctions, presumably these, the charity took a commission leaving the artist with the rest.
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