How did a group of Guelph artists to raise $15,000 net in only three hours? Care of grieving families inspired them to donate their talents in the exciting speed painting contest.

1. Painters Produce Profits for Pain
Karen Kesteloot April 26, 2014
How did a group of Guelph artists to raise $15,000 net in
only three hours? Care of grieving families inspired
them to donate their talents in the exciting speed
painting contest.
(Newswire.net -- April 26, 2014) Guelph, Ontario --24 artists
took the spotlight for one exciting night of enthusiastic
fundraising in support of providing relief to families suffering
from the loss of a loved one.
Families coping with the death of a loved one in Guelph felt lost and unsupported by their
community while going through some of the most difficult times of their lives. To remedy this,
Hospice Wellington was created in 1980 to support these families and provide care and assistance
to terminally ill patients. Guelph residents now rave about the sensitivity and support they receive
from Hospice. Their enthusiasm was shown in the selling out of the Brush Off fundraiser event in
February.
Hospice Wellington set out to find a new way to ease families through the pain of loss and grief
with the healing powers art by introducing their Art Therapy Program. It sparked the interest of
local arts organizations to get involved to raise money in support of the new program. The Guelph
Arts Council together with Wyndham Art Supplies and countless local businesses pooled their
efforts to create the dynamic fundraising event, complete with food catered by Delta Inn’s Fifty
West Restaurant, a fully licenced bar, and donated prizes. Scotiabank also helped in the selling
out of the event.
24 local artists competed in 4 rounds creating paintings on the spot with only 30 minutes for each.
The enthusiastic crowd of 500 voted for their favourite painters down to the final round with 3
artists remaining, Meredith Blackmore won gold, Karen Kesteloot won silver and Ryan Price won
bronze. All paintings created by participants of the Brush Off were sold to the guests through a
silent auction.
Karen Kesteloot, owner of “PortPrep”, a business aimed at getting prospective arts students into
top ranking colleges proved her skill by winning second place and a silver brush for her paintings.
Karen explained her painting process saying, “I decided to follow the advice I give my portfolio
students which is to create images using unusual tools like sticks or pieces of packaging. The
marks made by these abnormal tools often yield far more interesting results”. Among the tools
Karen painted with were the box the paint came in, a fork and even an old tennis ball. The crowd
showed their interest in her bizarre choice of utensils by voting her through to the final round.
Karen in Round 2 of the Brush Off

2. Known as the “Admissions Insider, Karen has gotten 100% of her students accepted into the best
arts colleges in the world including schools like OCADU, Sheridan, Ryerson , RISD, Ringling
College, SVA, and the University of Arts. She gets these outstanding results by teaching students
how to improve their artworks and by sharing the secrets of the best way to arrange the pieces in
their art portfolio. If you are interested in getting professional help from an art instructor with your
art portfolio, click here.
Related resources:
Brush Off Guelph Home Page
http://www.brushoffguelph.com
Wyndham Art Supplies
http://www.wyndhamartsupplies.com/isapi/isapi.dll
Brush Off raises at least $15,000 for Hospice Wellington – Guelph Mercury
http://www.guelphmercury.com/news-story/4359405-brush-off-raises-at-least-15-000-for-hospice-
wellington/
SNAP Guelph
http://www.snapguelph.com/index.php?option=com_sngevents&id%5B%5D=640445
PortPrep
275 Woolwich St
Guelph, Ontario N1H 3V8
519-803-2539
info@portprep.com
http://portprep.com/wp/
Source: http://www.newswire.net/newsroom/pr/00081205-painters-produce-profits-for-pain.html