Last Friday night I watched Julie and Julia and went to bed with visions of blogs and 365 days of cooking... mashed up with the haunting images of pain coming from Haiti. The next morning as I lay there in a quasi dream state I hatched a plan to help in my own tiny way by painting one new piece of art a day, posting them on eBay and sending what comes of it to a Haitian relief effort.

Because of the movie I thought, I can do that for a whole year, right? But this was before my shower... and before wiser, more sane voices weighed in. My family already does the daily hunt for matching socks and thinks all cheese is orange. So okay, not a year... 30 or so days of painting will be perfect.

My art is of children playing, in silhouette... and kids (usually mine) help me create it by painting the backgrounds, or what becomes the figures in my work. So the idea evolved to work with a larger group of children from our community in support of a cause they can relate to. A few clicks to search the eBay auctions supporting non-profit organizations and I landed on the Save the Children website.

So here we go, the Painting a Day project...

Roughly 34 children ages 5-10 in Newburyport will be involved, a kindergarten and a 3rd grade classroom. Each child will do an abstract 6" x 6" painting in the next week. The kids can then come here to track their special piece from the classroom to the final painting and on to auction. I'll paint daily and maintain this blog with photos to share the process.

The eBay auctions will be put up in batches, all ending at the same time... one week after the last day's painting. 100% of proceeds will go to the Save the Children organization. Once the last piece is done, a gallery has generously donated space to display the work for a week leading up to the end of all auctions. More details will come as they become firm.

Thank you for your interest and support as we begin this journey!

For more information: http://www.savethechildren.org/