Downtown Greenville recycling bin with "Dixie" graphic.

Sidewalk side of downtown Greenville recycling bin with "Trade Street" graphic.

So, the Flat Out Under Pressure challenge, way back in the depths of January, was to take only 24 hours to create a piece of art that could be reproduced on one of eight recycle bins on Main Street in downtown Greenville. Although always happy to serve an environmental cause, I was much more attracted to the selfish indulgence of spending a day doing what I love. Winning first place—to my total astonishment!—was icing on the cake. That first prize included a  trip to Italy and a week in a fabulous Tuscan B&B, was rich butter-cream frosting on the icing. Okay, let’s just say it was really good. Really! Still, bottom line: a couple of my pieces are reproduced on a nicely constructed recycle bin at an active intersection downtown.

Took me 24 hours to paint “Dixie Diner.” But its taken a lot of dedicated work by a lot of good people to put this program together. Thanks to Jan Wesley and Renato Vicario of Vantage Travel (and our hosts in Italy) and Kim Sholly and Alan Ethridge of the Metropolitan Arts Council for making Greenville a great artistic playground!