I recently had the honor to paint a live painting at the annual event to raise money for Rosie O’donnell’s charity Rosie’s Theater Kids . The event was held at the Marriott Marquis on Broadway in Manhattan and honored Cyndi Lauper and Jordan Roth so it seemed appropriate to have the paintings theme represent the honorees in some small way. The goal of the evening for me was to create this painting during the cocktail hour from 6:30-7:30 ( I cheated and started at 5:30 but don’t tell anyone). After the cocktail hour everyone headed to the 6th floor for entertainment followed by the auction and then dinner. I was asked to bring my painting backstage and present it to Rosie on stage (which was amazing) and she proceeded to auction it off. As an artist it is always a bit weird to have your piece auctioned off. It is almost like standing in front of a crowd naked. I told myself prior to the evening that I was fine with whatever it went for as it was for a great cause. Well I definitely got more than I bargained for when the painting went for $15,000.00. Rosie, as cool as she is turned to me and asked if I can do another one. And of course like there is any other answer I replied, “yes!” Well she said that she would purchase the other painting bringing the tally to $30k! An incredible end to an amazing evening for sure. We enjoyed seeing so many people come out for a truly great cause, the standup from Rosie was hilarious and watching the Kids who we were there to support was my favorite part. They all were so talented it was like we were at a Broadway show. If you are interested in donating to RTK please click this link HERE.
