My experience with a private school auction

[Neal Hopkin]

Near the beginning of the year I came across this forums posts on private school auctions. I immediately did a search for private school auctions in my area and found nothing. Luckily, a week later I tried again and came across one that was actually having it’s auction just over a month away.

I sent a quick email along with an embedded picture of one of my portraits. I did not expect to hear anything back. Especially since the email was a generic info@. To my surprise, i heard back in just a few days. After several emails and a phone call everything was set in place. I printed up a certificate for $600 towards the purchase of an oil portrait. Then i dropped the certificate, a few business cards and one of my framed portraits at the school. I wanted to have an original portrait there as an example. I made sure to drop off a table stand for the portrait also.

I did not attend, nor was invited to attend the actual auction, so i just waited patiently for it to be over. A couple days after it was over, I inquired about how the auction went. Note, they did not contact me about it. They could not tell me how much it went for or who bought it, but they did say that “It had many bids and sold very well.” That got me excited, but I tried not to get my hopes up about anyone actually cashing it in.

It was not even a week before the purchaser called me up and we arranged a meeting/photo-shoot. The subject was to be his wife. She was not very excited about the whole thing. Despite being a beautiful lady, she seemed to not think her face was worth the attention. That made the photo-shoot a bit of a challenge, but in the end i got what i needed.

After about 4 weeks, I sent them frame options. And after about 2 more weeks I delivered the final painting and they loved it. We hung it right then and there. I don’t know if anything else will come of it, but overall, it was a wonderful experience. I do plan on contacting more private schools for additional opportunities.

Hope that helps someone. Below is a copy of portrait.

http://nealhopkin.com/

[Richard Budig]

Neal . . . very nice work. Can you tell me a bit more? What size is the painting? Where/how did you shoot it . . . I mean, in an old warehouse and you made up the rest, or in your studio, or their home, and finally, a bit about your palette? Do you use a simple palette and premix strings, or use the "open" painting approach. Again, nice work.

[Neal Hopkin]

Richard, thanks for the feedback. The portrait is 24"x18". I shot the portrait in the clients home with a simple light setup. I did not make any of it up, that would probably turn out bad for me. I only used a few colors on my palette, Titanium white, alizarin crimson, Ultra-marine blue, Cadmium Yellow Pale, Burnt Umber, and Raw Sienna. Hope that answers your questions. If not just let me know.

[Ngaire Winwood]

Nice work Neal.

Sometimes you never know where things may lead, especially when the bidding was so good on your work. You have sparked interest in this experience to say the least.

Ngaire