I went to London to see the Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition in 2018. I had seen some snippets on television and wanted to see how Grayson Perry had curated it. It was only my second visit to this famous art show, the last being about 10 years previously, and before I started selling my own art…
I nearly didn’t go that day. I’m not comfortable in really hot weather, and public transport isn’t a joy in the heat of summer. I’m so glad I made the effort to get there.
RANDOM ACT OF KINDNESS
As I stood in the ticket queue, a woman approached me and asked if I was waiting to buy a ticket. I thought she wanted to know if she was in the right place, but she offered me a ticket. Her husband had changed his mind about the visit, so her family had decided to give their spare ticket away. They wanted to give it to someone who was by themself and looked like they might enjoy it!
I was going to pay by card and offered my kind benefactor some cash but she wouldn’t hear of it, so paying it forward is the name of the game (or maybe backwards, as I’ve recently run an art competition, and reunited someone with their belongings whilst stewarding as an Oxfam festival volunteer..).
If by some chance you recognise yourself as the kind person who gave me a free ticket, thank you so much for your random act of kindness!! I spent a couple of hours there and I loved the exhibition on several levels:
– There was some great art, and some that made me laugh, or think, or both!
– I enjoyed trying to spot artwork by Royal Academy members and celebrities (this one is by Una Stubbs);
– My husband was at home (on crutches so he couldn’t come). I sent him a dozen or so photos of various works with quiz questions to entertain him e.g. Who painted this? How much is the price tag? What materials were used here?
– The exhibition made me reconsider my own art prices – I’m not charging enough for some of my wildlife and animal paintings! I won’t be increasing any prices just yet, as I need to do some recalculations first. Check out my shop if you’d like to take advantage of existing prices on my colourful and expressive wildlife paintings.
I may even enter some of my own work for the RA Summer Exhibition, so watch this space…..
Why not offer a random act of kindness to a stranger this week – it doesn’t need to be art-related.
Would you like a free animal art gift on your Birthday? Click here and I’ll take care of the rest.