Since last Spring I have been giving away a portrait every month. The way it works is that our favorite restaurant in the whole wide world is Jimmy T’s New York Deli in Hernando, Florida. Jimmy makes the best homemade soup you can find. He also has a very loyal customer base. Many of his customers eat there every day of the week except Sunday when he is closed.
I gave Jimmy a decorated box and a couple hundred business cards and people who would like to win a free portrait put their name and number in the box. Once a month Jimmy pulls out a name and the lucky person comes to my studio to sit for their portrait. When finished the portrait hangs in Jimmy T’s Restaurant for a month.
I bought a nice gold plaque to go underneath with the words “Jimmy’s Patron of the Month” engraved. There are no strings attached. The portrait is free and I give away an inexpensive acrylic frame or they have the option of buying a better frame from me at my cost.
This has been a wonderful way to get my work into the community and I know that eventually it will pay off. Plus, I have the wonderful experience of models coming to my studio where I can paint them in wonderful north light. My studio, by the way, used to be my dining room. It never received much use as a dining room but it is the most perfect studio I could imagine
So here is February’s “Jimmy’s Patron of the Month,” a wonderful guy named Al.