I was honored to be asked to participate in the 2009 VENTURA Musical Festival, “Russkaya”- “Musical Chairs” event. The Russian music theme was unfamiliar to me, so I googled information and listened to music until I found the story of the firebird and Igor Stravinsky’s adaptation to the story a beautiful combination. It was a strong decision to paint the motif on black as Russian art used this hue to a great extent. The chairs were for auction to raise funds for the music festival. I was thrilled to hear my chair (on the card cover) fetched $1700.