A very funny prank

We came across a post late Sunday night on Reddit and while we did not paint the piece; we just had to acknowledge this awesomeness and encourage our clients to commission pieces with similar aims.

The painting was made by the Visual Arts department at Interlochen Center for the Arts and clearly stole the spotlight for the the fundraiser raising money for the Great Lakes Children museum. 

Mindy Ronayne and Megan Hildebrandt, both Interlochen instructors and members of the Great Lakes Children's Museum board surprised their "prankster" friend with a custom oil painting of himself which they rightfully named "Portrait of Andrea D. Schmitty: First President of the Grand Traverse Feline Association" 

Ronayne enlisted the help of faculty to make the piece and submitted the item to the silent auction. Ronayne says it took her friend a good bit of time to realize what he was looking at. 

"His reaction was classic, you could see it playing in his head as he slowly unfolded the fact that this was him while he was looking at it," she says. "I had no idea if he would find this hilarious, or if it would end our friendship. He turned to me in utter amazement and hugged me. I couldn’t have asked for it to be played out any better.”

The masterpiece eventually sold for $200 at the end of the auction; shortly after Schmitt posted about her prank on reddit and it went viral.  We tip our hat to this legend. No doubt that this painting has already appreciated in value in just a few days.