Thanks for the compliments! *blushes*
I met the artist about 3 or 4 years ago when we worked together at a restaurant. The restaurant was designed as an artists loft and they had artists who would paint there live. I was a server and he would paint every weekend. We just became good friends and he thought of this project, so here we are!
A funny thing - He still paints at the restaurant and last weekend he wasn't scheduled to be there but he decided to go in anyway. Turns out, the Canadian CF chapter (we're in Southern California) bought out the entire restaurant for a party, so he was able to spread the word about our project to them as well!