Anonymous Patron of the Arts

Tomorrow, 11 Gennaio, is my seventh anniversary for taking the art plunge full-time! I have learned so much and I keep learning and growing and thinking. (Most people tell me too much thinking, ma . . . )

This evening I was able to complete the cycle on a wonderful gift that I recently received.
I gave a charming young Italian woman a framed drawing that I had created of her back on 24 October 2007 in Florence, Italy. It was a gift from an arts patron. And she was thrilled. (This image of the three of us – Eugenia, the model, “Eugenia” the drawing, and Kelly, the artist – was taken by Juan Pablo Ruiz.)

An American man who wishes to remain anonymous, and whom I have only met via e-mail, paid double my price + framing for my drawing of a new Italian model named Eugenia. I posted an image of the pencil (black and white) sketch on a grey paper of a seated female nude figure on the 2 November entry of my blog.

My arts patron asked me to frame the drawing and give it to the model as a gift. He wanted to support my efforts in Italia. Wow, that was a new one! Via e-mail, he wrote:

“. . . Your blog is great! I feel a bit like I myself am there in Italy enjoying the experience and fun of you and your new friends. I want to pay back a little, or you can think of it as a very minor benefactor to enable you to continue what you are doing, which is good for you, good for me, good for our country, etc.

Your experimentation with white pencil on black paper is interesting (Mario) . . . Your drawing of Eugenia (drawn Oct 24, posted Nov 2, 2007 in your blog) is quite my cup of tea. Wow. Your talent is really impressive and she is classic goddess. Is it still available? May I purchase it so that you can donate it to the model? . . .Tell her an anonymous American benefactor wanted to spread a little artistic goodwill to Italy.”

When I sounded a bit stunned (you want to overpay and give it away? – my father asked me recently if I realized that I talk too much when people want to help me! ;-) and I suggested that I pay for framing since his offer was so generous, he responded:

“If it's not too much trouble for you, yes, please give it to Eugenia. [Let’s] frame it. It would be a crying shame if it were to be stored in a file or vault. (Although it occurs to me that 50 years from now maybe I'll be telling my grandchildren how I gave away a signed original Borsheim!)”

ha ha – now I have expectations to fulfill! But seriously, the generosity of this art benefactor touched me. And impressed many of my artist friends. We all agreed that the mental boost of such kindness is amazing! And Eugenia was so happy that she spoke way too quickly in Italian for me to understand most of her expression. And she will keep modeling. Thank you, Mr. Anonymous Art Patron from Eugenia and me in Italia!