This was kind of a random painting for me. I painted it before I got serious about working in a consistent series of any one theme, just because I was motivated to practice realism and I wanted to paint a cardinal. So, stylistically it stands apart from my other paintings.
I love the pop of that hot red against the blurry blue background, and the bird’s little eye looking right out of the canvas at us.
Cardinal. 20″ x 16″, Acrylic on Canvas, © 2003 Cedar Lee
I donated this painting to a charity auction that ended up swindling me big-time. I had no contact with the organizer, as I’d given the painting via my friend who worked for the man. After the event was over, I found out from my friend that my painting had not sold to a bidder, so instead of returning the work to me, the man who organized this “charity auction” (my friend’s boss) had decided he liked the painting and had kept it for himself. Typing that sentence, even now I feel a tiny stab of hurt.
I intended my work to go towards a cause I believed in–feeding the hungry–and knowing that instead, it ended up hanging on this sleazy guy’s wall, was hard to stomach. At the time, I felt in an awkward position, and, assuming it was already too late to do anything about it anyway, I dropped it and moved on from the loss.
Most artists I know who have been working for many years have at least one story of losing artwork to unscrupulous people. It’s always heartbreaking no matter the circumstances. I hate that this happened to me, but it taught me a valuable lesson about protecting myself when donating artwork to a good cause. Today I have a pretty strict policy about donating, including a contract that specifies the donated work will go only to the charity, and if not sold, will be returned to me.
For anyone interested, several years ago I made this video on the topic for the benefit of fellow artists:
