Way back in January I wrote about a new virtual art store called 12stoneart.com. I raved about their art and I said “I’d really love to acquire a few to put in my office space.”

Then in Feburary, Amy told me she’d like to buy me one of the prints for Valentine’s day, she wanted to get my favorite “To Chain The Beast” by Justin Gerard of Portland Studios. She also said she wanted to get the largest size possible on the best canvas.

I was floored and mega-excited.

I went directly to 12stoneart and attempted to place my order, which failed with an error that claimed my credit card number was wrong. I double, then triple checked and tried again to no avail. I was bummed, but also irritated.

So I shot an e-mail over to Tim Gray, owner and super great guy. He quickly responded with an apology and told me that it must be a bug in the system and that they’d fix it. They fixed it and Tim gave me an additional 50% off the print and a free upgrade to the highest quality canvas for my trouble, this was on top of the already discounted by 20% sale price.

I was absolutely thrilled and impressed by Tim’s ability to get things done quickly and his generous offer to appease me and furthermore creating a customer for life.

I received my print less than a week later, apparently he also rushed it out to me, again awesome!

Aside from a single minor scratch near the tip of the Angel’s wing, it was absolutely flawless, and I took the minor flaw as “meant to be” because nothing is perfect.

And even with the tiny scratch the painting still absolutely took my breath away.

The best part about this painting is the meaning it has for me.

It’s a metaphorical depiction of Jesus binding Satan to hell and it’s amazing imagery.

To me, however, it symbolizes my personal fight against the “dragon” of weight. It helps to remind me that I can and will conquer my weight problem, once and for all.

Now I had to get this beauty framed.

I found a local gal to frame it, I went in picked the wood, matte and face to be applied, got the quote and was blown away by the price. $760.02(usd). WOW! That is seven times what the print cost.

Amy and I discussed it and decided the cost was worth it, as all beautiful art requires a beautiful presentation, not to mention the size of the print probably was a factor in the final price.

I dropped the Painting off on February 8th 2007, 50% down and a two week time frame for completion.

On March 8th, I decided to call Sharon down at the frame shop, she said she’d gotten backlogged and was about to call me, then promised to have it completed by Monday.

Now I understand backlog, and being busy, so it didn’t upset me, but I was disappointed that she didn’t call me at the two week mark to let me know it was going to take another three weeks. But, we all make mistakes so I let it go and didn’t say anything.

She called yesterday and said it was ready to go. I went down today and picked it up, paid the balance and brought it home. The only thing I was unhappy about was that she “fixed” the scratches on the print, even though I had specifically asked her not to, I even explained why I didn’t want them fixed, apparently she forgot or ignored my wishes. Either way it wasn’t that big a deal, so I let it go as well.

It does look absolutely stunning hanging on the wall behind my desk. I love it.

Here’s a shot of me next to the framed and hung painting, kind of gives it scale.

Thanks for listening to me ramble about my new painting adventure.

I really love it and I want Amy to know that she rocks so hard it’s getting ridiculous and that I couldn’t possibly love her more.