The purpose of this blog is to promote art that inspires me on a daily basis, not as a platform to promote my own work, but as this week's subject benefits a worthy cause, I will make an exception...

The D.C. Star Wars Collecting Club (http://www.dcswcc.org) recently unveiled the ninth pin in its series of collectible lapel pins, with all proceeds from the sale of this one going to the D.C. Chapter of House of Ruth (http://www.houseofruth.org). My concept was selected for this year's pin, so I was able to see the image thru to the final design. This is the 40th anniversary of the release of The Empire Strikes Back, so the concept was of Princess Leia as she appears during the escape from Cloud City, with Cloud City floating behind her and the Washington D.C. monuments in place of its skyline. During the design process, I came up with an alternate image, depicting Princess Leia in her Bespin Gown. In the end, I couldn't decide which I liked more, so I submitted them both to the club's leadership. They decided that pins would be made from both designs. The first, blue/grey design, will benefit the charity and is limited to 500 individually numbered pins. This pin is available for purchase by anyone. The second, red/orange design, was limited to a production run of 100 pins and is a gift to Annual Dues-paying members of the club. Fellow designer and club member, Mike Marosy, provided the designs for the cardbacks that perfectly complement each pin.

To order the charity pin (while supplies last), visit the DCSWCC store -

http://store.dcswcc.org/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2&products_id=60