A Saskatchewan artist recently completed and sold a painting per day.
Christalee Froese’s online campaign raised $4,500 to help fund the adoption process for a Chinese orphan with Down Syndrome.
Five-year-old Mei Chen, who lives in a Chinese orphanage in Jiangxi province, will join her adopted family from Wisconsin in April.
Froese first met the abandoned orphan when she adopted her own daughter, Journey, from China in 2011.
The Montmartre writer and artist worked with U.S. groups to locate a family for Mei Chen. Racing for Orphans with Down Syndrome had already raised $15,000, thanks to thousands of dollars from Saskatchewan donors, but $30,000 was needed to fund the international adoption process for one child.
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Froese was inspired to help raise money through her hobby of painting.
“I thought, ‘why don’t I launch Art For Orphans for 21 days and paint what I can and sell what I can. That’ll add to the pot of money,’ ” she said.
Starting Nov. 1, Froese painted for about four hours each evening after putting Journey to bed.
She used oil on canvas, and subject matter ranged from animals to landscapes. The size of her paintings kept growing as each day passed, and her final two works of art were 46 by 52 inches.
“It kind of took on a life of its own, actually, once the first week was over,” she said.
She had her doubts at first and didn’t know if she could produce a painting a day.
“Previously, I produced two paintings a year, if I was lucky, and once I decided this, a painting was coming out of my soul a day,” she said.
“The bottom line was that I was channelling something much larger than me. I still think it was all driven by this greater purpose to help a child. Sometimes that’s not in your control. That’s something bigger.”
Froese described the end of the 21 days as a combination of exhaustion mixed with joy.
“I felt like I had run 21 consecutive marathons, but I was absolutely elated,” she said.
“You just put in your heart and soul and feel totally drained and totally overwhelmed and totally ecstatic.”
Several paintings went to buyers in British Columbia, but most were bought by members of her own rural community as well as neighbouring communities.
“I don’t think this could have happened anywhere else. I live in a rural community and word gets out and you instantly have 500 walking billboards for your project,” she said.
