H.C. Porter has a deep connection to Mississippi and to Vicksburg.

The nationally acclaimed artist has a gallery on Washington Street and through her craft has captured the images of Mississippians from across the state.

With her Backyards & Beyond Series, Porter documented the lives of those living on the Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina and did the same with her Blues @ Home project that featured Blues artists from across the state.

Like most artists, Porter has felt the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and has been unable to participate in art festivals across the country.

“When words like ‘the trenches’ are used to describe a day in the life of an artist, things are tough,” Porter said. “We, like everyone else in business, want to stay safe and protect our customers, so there have been no more elbow-to-elbow arts festivals for a while.”

Therefore in an effort to continue to market her paintings, Porter is holding an online lottery in a Zoom event.

“This lottery will consist of 16-to-18 of the paintings I currently have in the gallery. Some are brand new images and some are older silkscreens that have recently been painted during my isolation the last six months of COVID,” Porter said.

These paintings range in price from $14,500 to $1,600, but Porter said, the average value of a painting is $3,200.

“I have set the buy-in at $1,600 per person so that you would win in the lottery an original painting at least equal value to your investment,” she said.

Also, Porter said, the buy-in will put lottery participants in a drawing for the grand prize which will consist of either her “Peaches Restaurant” painting valued at $14,500 or a commissioned family portrait.

During the Zoom event, which has been set for Nov. 19 from 6 to 7 p.m., paintings will be drawn at random using a Bingo type dispenser and matched with a collector’s name also rolled out in a bingo-type way.

“It sounds like a blast for me and I hope the collectors involved will get really excited about it,” Porter said.

For those who do not want to wait and take a chance on which painting they would win in the drawing, participants can buy, now, the painting of their choice.  But instead of the buy-in price, Porter said, these participants would instead receive 20 percent off of the painting they choose.

This, however, does not exclude them from being eligible for the grand prize, she said.

“I have been selling my artwork since 1987, and over that many years, I have established a healthy value for my work and incredible personal relationships with collectors along the way, and it is exciting for me to offer this online lottery as a way to lower the ‘buy-in’ cost of owning one of my original paintings and creatively finding a way to help my gallery survive the current financial challenges,” Porter said.

To view the 18 paintings, visit www.hcporter.com and click the “Canceled Arts Festival” button on the home page.

For more information, call 601-661-9444, 601-519-3032 or 601-934-0203.