This summer I picked up the charcoal and started drawing again – a hobby I had dabbled in back in 2004, but then abandoned after becoming director of the Champaign County Humane Society – a job that can be “all consuming” to say the least.

This time around I’m not just dabbling . . . I’m throwing myself in . . . at least to the extent that my schedule and sanity allow.  What a coincidence that just when life takes this turn, the Art Coop relocates to Lincoln Square, a destination I now find hard to resist every time I head to downtown Urbana for lunch – or coffee – or a pumpkin cookie from Art Mart.  Any excuse to wander around the papers, paints, books, pads, pens, and other neat stuff will do!  Time and troubles fade away as I browse around, my mind spinning off with ideas and visions of creations yet to be.

So imagine how tickled I was to hear that the Art Coop had scheduled its first $50 Charity Art Show for this November/December and will donate all of the proceeds to the Champaign County Humane Society. 

What’s a “$50 Art Show?”   Artists of all levels – known and unknown – novice to expert – are welcome to donate a piece (or pieces) to the non-juried show by November 17th.  All pieces will be offered for sale for $50, starting with the Show Opening on November 19th (7-9 pm) and running through December 30th.  And as I said, Art Coop will donate the entire proceeds of the sale to CCHS.  The Coop is also footing the bill for the opening night refreshments. 

Note to artists:  Any subject matter is welcome – works need not be animal-centric!

The Art Coop hopes that this show will be the first of many that they hold to benefit the local community and welcomes your suggestions for future shows.  We're grateful that they chose the humane society for the first!

I don't know if I'll find anything in my sketchbook worthy of puting a matt around and entering in the show, but maybe I will.  After all, it's for the animals and as art critics go, I'll never find a more forgiving audience.  In fact, it has been my experience that dogs are not at all discriminating -- they relish a discarded sketch just as much as a used paper towel or piece of junk mail.  Cats?  I don't know how much they appreciate works of art, but they sure seem to enjoy sitting on your paper and spilling your paint-brush water.  I guess we could say they are all about the process.

Mark your Calendar for the Grand Opening and Sale on Friday November 19th, from 7-9pm 

You don't need to be a Picasso (creator of the dog drawing below) to enter a piece in the Art Coop $50 Charity Art Show!