Just over a year ago - I approached the Hon Melanie Joly ( Minister of Canadian Heritage) offering my painting 'Vote for Us' (see above) for the sum of £ 54,000 .

Read the introductory story here ... VOTE FOR US

This was (if you can remember back) her response - in brief...

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Following her suggestion - I followed up with the Director of the Canadian National Gallery

I got a response... here it is in full

But however - that's where the trail ended. A conversation at the weekend sparked the memory - and so I am now off on the trail again. I have double checked the Top 10 global economies - and yes Italy is still Number 9 - so that's where I'm heading next... watch this space.

I'm not backward in coming forward.

I recently sent an email to the Honorable Melanie Joly - Minister of Canadian Heritage offering her; or to be more accurate - the Canadian government,  my painting "Vote for Us" for £ 54,000.00 GBP.

I'll be honest - I wasn't expecting a reply - but via the Canadian government's Ministerial Correspondence Directorate , I was given a polite and encouraging response.

My favourite part of the response was this...

I am then encouraged to approach the National Gallery of Canada regarding the sale.

As brush-offs go it's rather a nice one.

So the history behind this...

On a whim or something like it, I decided that I would try and sell one of my pieces well above and beyond my normal asking price to one of the Governments of the world's top 10 economies (or a national collection). I picked "Vote for Us" as it's broadly political (and I'm approaching politicians). I also felt it fits with the current global political instability and increasing polarisation.

I chose £ 54,000 as my asking price on the following basis.

1. £ 27,000 (half the sum) is the current average annual earnings for an individual within the UK. That bit's for me. It guarantees me an income for a year - it's not greedy.
2. £ 27,000 would go to an arts-based community organisation or charity within Canada
3. I would agree to promote - for 12 months (with agreed weekly hours) Canadian arts and culture on social media channels. So - some of that £ 27.000 for me would be earned income.

I will be approaching the National Gallery of Canada as the next step, then - if I'm unsuccessful there- I'll move onto economy number 9.

So possibly - next stop Italy.

I'll be blogging on progress as I go. If you have any contacts or suggestions let me know by messaging me here or commenting on this blog.

I'd appreciate it if you could share this blog as well - and see where it gets