Early last month, August of 2009, I noticed a new name had been added to the email list that gets these newsletter mail outs of the digital images of my paintings along with the corresponding short stories. The new name on the list was Christine Martin. The email address for her that was put on the list was This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. "> This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Since people are frequently signing up on my web site for these newsletter mail outs, I didn’t think too much about it, however I remember wondering who she was and also, I remember thinking that the “toddevents” in her email address must be some sort of company name. Little did I know then, that soon she and that company would become a big part of my life.

Along about the middle of last summer, Gary and Carole Holliman, owners of PrideRock Wildlife Refuge, told me that a big fund raiser was being planned for them to be on September 24, 2009, in Dallas, Texas. Gary requested for me to consider donating something to be auctioned at the fund raiser.

As most of you would know, in my return to the art world, Gary and Carole Holliman and their PrideRock Wildlife Refuge have played a big part in this effort to learn to draw and paint again. In September of 2007, they gave me the opportunity to start spending time with their lions, tigers, cougars and wolves to learn how to draw and paint them. Since then, my wife Corinne, and I have become friends with Gary and Carole at PrideRock and we try to help support them in whatever way we can in their effort to care for their twenty seven big cats that they have rescued from bad situations. Visit their web site, www.priderock.org and watch the recently added news video clip.

As I learned more about the planned fund raiser, Gary said that one of their new volunteers works for an event planner in Dallas and that she wanted to do something special to help them. Gary told me that her name is Christine Martin and that she works for a company named Todd Events. The light clicked on in my brain, I remembered that name was on my newsletter email list. On the internet, I looked up “Todd Events” and learned that they are a large company in Dallas that does special events. You can see what Christine Martin looks like, as I did, by clicking on their web site under the section Todd and The Gang.

The fund raiser event is named “Lions and Tigers and Cougars (oh my) a priderock wildlife refuge fundraiser”. It will be held on Thursday, September 24, 2009, 6:30 PM to 9:30 PM, at The Apartment, 1444 Oak Lawn Ave., #206, Dallas, Texas. You can purchase tickets by clicking on to www.priderock.org. It is going to be a big event and all of you are invited.

I contacted Christine by email to discuss how I might participate in the fund raiser. Since then, she, Gary and I have done a lot of emailing back and forth. Carole told me that Christine’s favorite animal at the refuge is Jake, one of their big African lions. When she told me that, I happened to be in the middle of doing this watercolor portrait of Jake. After finishing the portrait, which turned out rather good I think, I decided that my contribution to the fund raiser would be this original watercolor portrait of him. The size of the painting is 15” x 22” and it has a double white acid free mat and is framed in a 24” x 30” polished wood frame.

We have decided that this portrait of Jake will be in a silent auction at the fund raiser. This is where people can bid on the painting by putting their name and bid on the auction sheet in front of the painting. They can increase their bid up to the cut-off time at the fundraiser. We have not yet decided what the starting bid or the minimum incremental bids will be, however the starting bid will probably be around $500 with incremental bids of $25.

Gary and I have been discussing how each of you can participate in the silent auction for this painting of Jake. If any of you would like to participate in the silent auction to bid on this watercolor portrait of him, Gary can act as your proxy and put your bid or bids on the silent auction sheet up to the bid limit you have authorized him to make in your behalf. You can contact Gary by email, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , or telephone him at 1-214-926-0029, to discuss with him the details.

I hope to meet those of you that can come to the fundraiser. It will be fun to put faces with the names that are on my newsletter email list.

I think Christine Martin deserves some “pats on the back” for not only working as a volunteer to scoop up the poop and clean the big cat pens but to conceive and put together this fund raiser. Her email address is This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. "> This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , please send her your words of appreciation.