When I sat down to write this newsletter, I quickly realized how insane things have been since last month's issue. This is due to the fact that I launched my Art for Life campaign exactly two weeks ago. Since this is such a huge endeavor for me, I'm dedicating this month's newsletter to this topic. There's so much to say, but I'll highlight the top-level stuff. If you haven't heard about my campaign, please click HERE to read all about it.
 
Now back to the details. The week before starting the campaign was mostly about preparing my material and updating my website to accommodate the campaign page and campaign gallery. Ordering the 200 canvases and receiving them was something else!! The delivery guy had that "are you insane look" on his face as he brought in bundle after bundle of canvases. They literally filled up my living room! As the delivery guy left, he said "good luck with that!!!" It took me a good three hours to get everything downstairs and unpacked. There's something very intimidating about seeing 200 blank and very white canvases in front of you. Nevertheless, I was extremely anxious to start.
 
A lot of people have been joking about how I should start painting before the launch date to get a heads-up. But that would just be cheating myself and my goal - I'm the one who set the goal to paint 200 pieces in six months, so the idea to start before the campaign began never crossed my mind.
 
Launch day was crazy. I had a radio appearance on the CBC morning show at 6:15AM. Getting out of bed at 4:00AM on a day that I knew was going to end very late wasn't ideal. However, the idea to kick off my campaign with an on-air interview was very appealing, and it turned out to be a lot of fun. I was also featured in the both the English & French newspapers during that week with a follow-up article in today's paper.
 
For the first time in my art career, I actually got a bit nervous about painting the first piece for this campaign. I knew it was going to set the stage for the whole project, so I wanted to make sure it was a good one. I took a deep breath and followed the brush just like I typically do, and it turned out great.
 
I received lots of emails on the second and third days from people who were wondering when they would see the first piece of the campaign. I posted a painting to the gallery on day 4, and had completed three paintings at that point. I explained on my blog that I have my own style of painting, which requires me to add multiple layers of paint on the canvas to create that rich texture. It takes more than a day to complete a painting because I have to let one layer dry before I start paintings another layer. I typically have 6-8 pieces on the go at one time.
 
There's obviously so much more to tell about this campaign, but I'm sure you have other things to do in your busy lives. I will give you another full update next month, but in the meantime, you can always check out my website for my regular blog posts. I've been trying to blog about my experience every day, but since things have been so crazy, it's hard to keep all the balls in the air.  
 
I've completed 10 pieces to date, which means that I have 190 pieces left to paint in 169 days. And I've sold four pieces in two weeks, bringing in $500 so far towards my ambitious goal of raising $25,000. I hope that you will help me achieve my goal. A total of $125 of your $150 purchase price will go towards the fight against cancer, and you'll own a beautiful piece of art. What more could you ask for?
 
I want to wish you all a happy spring. And now, I'm off to paint!!
 
Sincerely,
 
Matt