Two paintings and 3 Fused Glass Pieces in two separate Auctions

This past weekend was a weekend of our church festival plus a concert, and both events had their accompanying auctions! Each year our church's annual Fall Festival and our town's Concert 4 the Cure occur on the same weekend. Ron and I are always pulled between the two events - trying to get to both although they're both the same evening. Our family is invested in the Concert 4 the Cure because Lily (my granddaughter who has battled leukemia twice) has worked so hard to raise money for childhood cancer research. All the money raised at Concert 4 the Cure each year goes to Vandy's Children's Hospital - where Lily has been treated since 2008.  This was the first year Lily has missed the Concert - but she missed it because she's away at college! That fact fills me with such happiness that she is able to experience college after all she has been through. My daughter, Lily's mom, is in charge of the silent auction each year, and she made sure I contributed.

So I donated items to the auction/silent auction at each event.

I donated this painting to our church’s Fall Festival. It is a painting of our church, and it was in the live auction. It sold for $250.  One of my best friends bought it, and soon after the auction she texted me a photo of the painting already hanging on a wall in her home. I was so honored! It's the third time I've painted the church - and I hope to paint it again someday. I wrote a poem to go with the painting.

Then, for the Concert 4 the Cure's Silent Auction,  I donated the following painting and fused glass items. Although the paintings and glass pieces were displayed at the concert, the bidding was done online. I was in Georgia and was able to bid on several items from there (not any of my items!  LOL!) I have no idea who bought any of my items.

Here are screen shots of the final bid amount for all four of my donations:

I was so pleased that I was able to contribute to both our church and to the children's hospital through my art. And this was the first time I sold any of my art work. So that's a milestone in my journey.

Hillsboro United Methodist Church in Leiper’s Fork, TN

I have always wanted to paint WELL our little church in Leiper’s Fork. Two years ago I started painting it, and I ended up with the painting below.  I like the general look of it except the perspective is off - the part of the church on the left looks like is swinging forward towards the front rather than being straight along the side.  I hung this painting prominently in my studio as a good lesson to always get the perspective right in my paintings.

So this past week, I decided to paint the church again.  This time I used a 10x10 canvas panel.  My thinking was that I'd paint it quick and small and try not to stress over details.  Below is the result:

So the perspective is right.  It's a little "looser" than the first try. Still, though, I am not proud of it. I ran out of room at the top; so it doesn't show the little spire at the top of the steeple. Looking at it now, I realize that in the first painting I added front porch posts that aren't there. I even looked at it yesterday when we went to church, and there aren't posts on the front porch. I like the look of them in that first painting - LOL! but they are imaginary. Still, I like the painting a little - especially if I stand away from it and can't see the details.  LOL! I free-hand sketched it - and although the proportions aren't exact, they're pretty good for a free-hand drawing. I used a different photograph for this painting, although the perspective is just about identical to the first. The sun shadows are different.

I will try painting the church again in another year or two and see if then I will finally get a painting of the church that I'm really proud of.