Saturday, May 05, 2007

The Auction

What a great evening that was! Although it was by ticket and invitation only, the room was packed and there was a great atmosphere surrounding the whole event.

I had travelled up to London with a friend of mine and we made a bit of a day of it; going for a ‘flight’ on the London Eye, as well as viewing the auction exhibition prior to a lovely Italian pasta meal, before going back for the champagne reception and the auction.

Auctions are funny old things… you can never tell what will grab the bidders and what will not. There were a few surprises with some works exceeding our expectations on how well they did and some just not attracting the bids like we would have thought.

All in all my cheetahs didn’t do as well as I had hoped; but then one always hopes for better, particularly when every pound counts both for conservation and ones own personal fiscal situation. I had really hoped that it would get into the estimate range, but I was up against several other paintings of cheetahs by well known artists, so I had the odds against me a little.

However, I am pleased with the sale price of £1,500; it came in on my original estimation and it’s great just to be a part of such an event supporting wildlife conservation.

Half of my painting’s sale price goes to the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation’s conservation projects, which is a big chunk but I know it will be put to very good use and that’s a very satisifying feeling.

Last I heard the auction raised about £80,000 on the night….. a great evening for wildlife conservation.

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