Help Japan Challenge!

This weeks challenge from Daily Paintworks was to paint a painting that the artist must be willing to donate the proceeds to help the victims of Japan. This was the easy part. The hard part was choosing what represented "home" to me. I often think of home in terms of where I grew up, in NH. But also in places I feel at home at my house, like the front porch, or in my studio. I struggled with the subject matter on this one because I wanted the painting to be done well, and as of yet I don't feel like my landscapes or architecture things like porches and interiors would be worthy of such a challenge. So I decided to go with what makes me feel at "home" in my painting. When I first started painting, it was always of flowers, Irises mostly, and I liked to paint them big so I didn't have to work out a background. So for this challenge I chose a Lotus, found in many Japanese gardens and simple and beautiful much like the Japanese spirit. If you are interested in purchasing this or any of several hundred other paintings, all proceeds will be donated to the Japanese Red Cross. Click here for the auction link. http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Challenge/FC50B15D-5016-4E5E-87F2-87C3F79BA65B