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I've only participated in two auctions and neither experience generated further commissions.
One of them was at a private school with many wealthy families. The school had a silent auction to raise money to help a teacher pay for her medical expenses because she had run through the maximum allowance on her health insurance. I had a sample portrait up on an easel and was right there answering questions. Lots of people expressed interest. I had a reserve on the portrait--half my normal fee. During the auction, the art teacher came up to me all excited. She said a parent had offered her 1/4 the reserve. "Should we accept it?" I was annoyed, but I thought, "Well, it would go to the teacher, and it's better than nothing." But then I thought, "Wait a minute! This woman knows the money is for the teacher and she's trying to bargain me down--that;s not right." So I said "no" and then someone else bid the full reserve bid! The people were very happy with the portrait I did of their daughter--but nothing else came from it.
The other experience was at a major charity benefit. The people there were dressed to the nines and there was news coverage, etc. I brought a portrait of my son, and my son came in person so people cold see the likeness. He helped talk to people before the bidding started. This was a live auction. Most of the items were things like a week at a private resort, season tickets to the baseball games, and expensive luxury items like jewelry and cars. I wondered if anyone was going to be interested in art. The bidding went up beyond the minimum to about 2/3 the actual price. Not bad.
But the people who bought it didn't want a portrait of one person--they wanted me to paint their four children, at the same price. They had several conversations with me about it, trying to figure out ways they could get around paying more. Could I put the children in the background? Yes, but it would cost more. Etc. Finally, after a year, they decided that the wife would have her portrait done. There was only one problem: she didn't want to have her portrait done! Finally I said to her, "Look, let's make this fun." She went out and bought a dress and began to get involved. The portrait turned out pretty well. The husband and wife both were thrilled with it. They had an unveiling party. But guess what? I wasn't invited! They just happened to mention the were having one. I said, "Let me send you some business cards." They said "Oh, sure," very offhandedly.
In both these cases, I could have done more follow-up. This is not something I'm very good at. I'm kind of slow at thinking about what I could do (or should have done). But I also sensed, in both of these auctions, a lack of interest in art, or at least spending money on art. I think, to be successful, you have to aim for an auction where people are interested and expecting to buy art.
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