- My story -

I am a passionate portrait and genre painter. When I was told last year that I was terminally ill, I wondered if every painting might be my last. But, thankfully, I was able to access a ground-breaking new treatment and am now disease-free. After battling with illness most of my adult life, I'm beginning to remember what it felt like to be well!

Now, at 62, I have a second chance. A chance to bring something beautiful into the world. A chance to excel at something I'm gifted at. And to develop this gift as much as I can, I need something more.

Having only discovered portraiture in my 50s, I have a lot of questions. I've come to the conclusion that the Angel Academy of Art in Florence, Italy, has the answers I need.

For the first time in my life, I have an opportunity to travel to the home of the Renaissance and study my craft with masters of traditional painting techniques.

Can you help me with my second chance?

- My paintings and my plan -

I've just returned from a competitive exhibition where both of my entries won top prizes: "La Fleuriste" won Best in the Oil/Acrylic Category and "Mother and Child c 1900" won the Acquisitive Prize from one of the sponsors. The judges commented in the awards ceremony that my work showed "phenomenal talent".

I'd like to put the prize money towards something life-changing:  a ticket to Florence, Italy, to study for a summer session at the prestigious Angel Academy of Art.  It has a traditional curriculum, based on art’s golden age: the Renaissance. The program will teach me techniques begun in the early 1400s used by Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Titian, Caravaggio, Velasquez, Rembrandt, van Dyck, Lord Leighton, Alma-Tadema, Bouguereau... 

The workshop that represents significant professional development for me is "Methods of Contemporary Portrait Painters", 13 - 24 June 2016 with Contemporary Realist painter Martinho Correia. As do virtually all contemporary portraitists, I work primarily from photographs and there is nothing of this kind available in Australian Art Schools.

I'm beginning to feel really hopeful...to think maybe the adage "never too late" might be true...if you have found something you are "meant" to do, are inspired, enthused, and willing to work hard? I have hopes that I can actually, even this late in life, leave something behind me of lasting value.

What do you think? Is it too late for a second chance?

I hope to cover my airfare with the recently won prize money.

That means I still need funds to cover tuition, accommodation, local transportation and frugal living expenses.

The cost of this amazing course is 1920€ [That's 32€ an hour for 60 life-changing hours] which is approx $2160 USD/$2840 AUD,

I've found an Airbnb listing not far from the Academy for the duration of the workshop for $1299 AUD/$978 USD. That's also  the price of a budget hotel if the Airbnb isn't available.

Food should cost under $400. It is peak tourist season and things are not cheap but I plan to find an economical pizza place! :) Eurail pass $350 (cheaper than actually flying into Florence), daily transportation in Florence $60, Museums $70.

Add all that up and it really tops $5000 but I was concerned about setting the goal too high. So I'm trusting just the right amount I need above the goal will actually come in.

Any extra would be used to buy materials in Italy and when I return home. Did you know one small tube of professional quality paint averages at $30 and one brush is a similar price? It would be wonderful if I could raise enough for the once-off-purchase of canvas stretching tools; stretching your own is much more economical than buying canvasses pre-stretched! Tools and materials necessary for picture framing would be an amazing help, too, as framing even one small painting is a minimum of $100.

Everything is time sensitive! The best-priced flights are going fast and I need to send a 1,020€ deposit to the Angel Academy immediately to ensure I have a place in the workshop. I'm going there to work, not as a tourist, so the stamina to work long hours everyday despite jet lag will be a challenge.