Sunday, November 9, 2014

3. Getting There

Alan was blown away by the letter.

All he could think about was how could the drawing he sold in Michigan City, Indiana get in the hands of this secretary on a very obscure island in the Indian Ocean? What really seemed cosmic was that he dreamed the subject of the drawing - he had never been further west than his home town of Oceanside! The coastline, the house, the "cargo trike", and the winding road were nothing he had actually seen, at least not in this lifetime.

Alan has made drawings and watercolors from his dreams for many years; and now this one seems to be of a real place.

The woman, Margaret, also sent Alan a road map of the island, that had this little map on the cover...



So Alan realized he must travel from Michigan City, Indiana, USA (click this link) to New Island. 

Alan wrote back saying, "Send me the tickets, I can leave tomorrow!"

Monday, November 3, 2014

2. Alan Gets a Letter




The drawing that eventually found its way to New Island.

Alan, a bit breathless, called Michelle about a week later...

"Hey, you know that show that the Art Club had last fall? And that drawing I did of an imaginary coastline? It sold, and all I knew was that the buyer was visiting from Australia..."

"Yessss," Michelle answered, not sure where this was going.

"Well, I just I got this crazy letter..."




THE COMMONWEALTH OF NEW ISLAND

Office of Wainwright Stevens, Ministry of Trade

Mr. Alan Faramond
671-B Willard Avenue
Michigan City, Indiana 46360
USA

17 March 2012

Dear Mr. Faramond,
     
     I am Margaret Mullen, the Secretary-in-Chief to Mr. Wainwright Stevens, Chief of Tourism. I happen to have in my possession an excellent drawing of our southwest coast that belonged to a local man of my acquaintance. An Australian woman may have purchased it; we are not sure. It has your name and address on the reverse. I brought the drawing to Wainwright’s attention, and we both reviewed more pictures on your ‘Alan’s Art’ website. We decided at once to contact you, since you are obviously familiar with our island.
    We are creating a guidebook that shows the beauty of our island and that depicts the joys of being here. It is our pleasure to request of you, in the capacity of Official Depictor, to produce a series of pictures of our island-nation.
     We will provide you with a list of the places we would like depicted. We can offer you a stipend as well. In return, we ask that you produce hand-made pictures and tourist maps of our island,as requested. The number and completion date of these is to be determined by mutual agreement.
     We are willing to offer transportation to New Island via Perth-FremantleWestern AustraliaWhen you arrive we will arrange for accommodations, and local transportation.
     Please reply via E-mail or telephone at your earliest convenience, and we will send airline and ship tickets in your name. Also, if you accept our offer, plan to be here for as long as necessary to complete the number of images in question. 

Sincerely,

Margaret

Margaret Mullen, for the Minister

PS: I do hope you say yes. Mr. Stevens has been under pressure to get our island “on the map” to increase international revenue. Your pictures are by far the best we have seen -- you seem to know our island well!

M.


The Ministry of Trade15 Government Hill Mall, The Commonwealth of New Island 1005 ▪ 99-12-334-2995 ▪ trademin1@freenet..ni