Cold Spaghetti

I’m going to start tracking packages. After unnecessarily stressing over where the heck the package went… it finally arrived! I drew another portrait; this one of my adorable nephew, Brayden, and was so worried that the mail had devoured it…
Based on some parent feedback and other positive comments, I am considering doing some “real” photography and artistic work on the side. While it would be great to have extra cash to pay off some lingering bills, build back our savings and pay for the work we’re doing on the house, the bottom line is that we are fine. I would rather do a fundraiser to put money in Abeona House, where it is really needed.

With that in mind, I wonder if anyone would have thoughts on what would be a fair price for me spending an hour with you, your family, or your kids taking pictures and providing a CD of all the images for you to use however you’d like in exchange for a set minimum (or more) donation (tax-deductible) to Abeona. For an added fee, I could take one of the photos and turn it into a portrait drawing. Taking into account the value of the time put into these (especially the drawings, which take a seriously decent chunk of time) what would be a fair minimum donation to request for providing these services as a fundraiser?

This weekend was a big one for Clare, daughter of my friend, Gwen, who celebrated her very first birthday on Sunday. I remember that when Will turned one it held a lot of special meaning for me, so I’d been thinking for a long time on a way to make it special for Gwen. The idea came a few months ago while I was organizing some of my art stuff… I found a sketch that our friend Dave Brenner drew from a photograph of Paul holding Will when he was only a few days old. Even though it’s been years since I made a serious drawing, I decided then to draw a picture of Clare.

I began downloading copies of the photos Gwen posted to e-clare and printing them in black and white until I found one that gave the kind of facial detail I needed. In the process, I tried practice sketches from various photos using assorted techniques. I was very anxious. Finally, I began to remember that while I am not that great in making the perfect line, I can work with shade. Tools in hand, I used a charcoal imprint for shape and made a grid on overhead paper to make sure I was keeping in proper porportion. I used both charcoal and lead pencils, with lots of erasing with my favorite gum erasers. It was difficult to decide when to stop. I picked at it for several days before forcing myself to frame it (I shudder at the number of times I’ve gone to far with a piece!) Then I had to work on keeping quiet until it arrived at Gwen’s house and she’d opened it. I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out (although the picture above isn’t the greatest) and had fun doing it. I’d love to do one of my kids… just waiting for that perfect photo!