deserved ( a long but worthwhile read )

Jamie Fingal makes me tired. She is an artist (who gets commissions!), teacher, author, and among other things, co-curator of the Beneath the Surface exhibit . Now she is up to it again, coordinating an art project for homes being built by Habitat for Humanity of Orange County.

Habitat's recent homes have been built for military families -- and being a product of that unique environment myself, working on this makes me beyond sentimental and borderline mushy.

Each of a new group of homes will be furnished by the volunteer organization Furnishing Hope of Orange County. Their designers provided Jamie with information about the families who will be moving in. I was told they like the colors lime green, gray, aqua and brown. They also have a multi-panel painting that will be a focal point:

We are to create a 12" x 16" piece depicting a home, using the honoree's colors. As is my wont, I created my piece digitally and it will be printed on paper-backed cotton.  First, I took the photo of their painting panels and made a sky:

 Since the original photo I was given was in poor focus, my derivative sky was quite pixellated, so I slapped on a filter to make it more sky-y:

So, I had my sky, all from the honoree's paintings. Next, the house, and the garden (all required):

The front door is from the painting as well -- I colored it brown, and made a wood-esque design using the woodcut function in Corel Painter. The arrows point to where I attempted to make semi-transparent 'curtains' out of the wood 'fabric.'  A definite no-go.

However, look what you can see through the window! The honoree's painting panels!!!! Pretty sweet, if I do say so myself.

By necessity, this has to be a somewhat traditional piece, so I finished with the lime green lawn, foliage, a sign with the owners' name [and their initial on the home], and a hummingbird supping at the home's hummingbird feeder under a beautiful Orange County sun.

Of course, a dog lives there, having come home via stage left (or right?). It's inside, snoozing under the honoree's painting, enjoying what they all deserve.

Now I will add the stitching. Stay tuned.