During a 2 year stint in Palm Beach Florida, Amanda purchased a new piano from a local dealer named Kathy Kretzer. After talking with the owner, she found out that Kretzer funded and ran a charity event called Keys to the Cities. Local artists were to be given an old piano to do something creative with. Later the pianos would be positioned around town for the public to enjoy. Amanda was chosen as one of these artists! So she went to work on designs, and I went to Home Depot for supplies. ![IMG_1566.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmUAM5nXAkcprXmNDuiYVRchLnb8Butbmr1bpn4syZz8sh/IMG_1566.jpg)_Rear view of finished piano_ A whole lot of work went into the design and creation of this piece of art. Everyone had to submit their ideas for consideration. Here are the original rough sketches that Amanda submitted. ![piano34.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmcZqk4zEC2yPizSmtVyrCSRy7QfGHo5trFR1UGmSCTTg7/piano34.jpg)![piano00.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQma3QBKB4qh9CxHgYgFwRg8pv9AYtbnYQm4vxUHStRYdwk/piano00.jpg) Of course, these drawings were submitted without actually knowing what the piano was going to look like that we would be actually working with; so the design changed somewhat over time. ![piano02.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmdw99JTawHNY5BEqQrTD3QXF6jMa9Usr7qGi4SwZFyHUT/piano02.jpg)_A rendered sketch of part of the back panel scene_ So once everthing was approved and the piano was delivered to us, I was on my way to Home Depot to get some plywood, boards and hardware needed to cut out out all of the extra bits like the doors, trees and back panel. There was a lot to be done before she could even start painting! Well, she did do an undercoat. ![20130921_132656.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmZ68qXj3dFvNe5ye44eLADPSa9c2tTjPtmHo9DVjrp57B/20130921_132656.jpg) ![20130921_132750.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmbe9dgEyN9j9xkb77y4sZKCYgiCrZP9DUNZkZcmNBVQpr/20130921_132750.jpg) ![20130921_132716.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmTzr3u9omfpf8BHu16dkb4sDozGMLDnzETUd6Q5G8SgH2/20130921_132716.jpg) ![20130925_141753.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmRyYTCvD2M5itX9a68jE3vfbRNziKYUnxyzk7R5ZyTtrj/20130925_141753.jpg) ![20130925_141807.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmZ2M5SrgtdGW4uf2WcMQAQoGCHPbdX36NVNWEiX1dZX2b/20130925_141807.jpg)_Prepped and ready to start painting!_ So from here she started to do all of the under painting. I didn't get a lot of photos of this part of the process as I was busy outside sanding some of the smaller detailed parts. ![IMG_1099.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmb6Sn4FGj73Rk38aTMsLdmTJh1vrqDbH9b1nVBJCM9ENR/IMG_1099.jpg) ![IMG_1100.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmfNWYLMhtiZjv5YVCxtmaatSyeB9Cnh2YukzALYmG7nvo/IMG_1100.jpg) ![hatter-lowres.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmfQCNrKUmnH2Hgr3oHDj4RNDQc9S7noEbb2tZq8hmhMqa/hatter-lowres.jpg) So we jump ahead quite a few hours. This thing is really starting to look great! The kids are going to love it. (And they did by the way!) ![muisic-stand.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmSUPrVm7MPNsnDJPCgGVeQdCyXVi8rih6p7sUqYVnPfht/muisic-stand.jpg)_The sheet music stand (I love this bit)_ Now let's have a look at some detailed shots. ![IMG_1450.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmNsJxuHygmFSaZ5QnXVxF3iMydN7uJ8cpZifnSb3vNzV6/IMG_1450.jpg) ![IMG_1447.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmQJL8WoGq1caM1EAkwULX5m5hRgCrCH7VU1Hu863cX5f8/IMG_1447.jpg) ![IMG_1454.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmchB9GmHp87Ah4jk6KXc1NGm2H6KJ5N2g5zw9k6TNGbkk/IMG_1454.jpg) ![IMG_1541.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmT3R98LWExCfGVTzNGueMGn5scCG9ahZdPTDvivdZr9nh/IMG_1541.jpg) ![IMG_1487.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmUJi2thDvTaMFSh4Nv1yJLc3fKPh5ZMaGrFXUyWTvUCo4/IMG_1487.jpg) ![IMG_1510.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmNaT2ExsxM1ygwNsM6GzC5uJ59MMFELJYPsBGDJQmLcMK/IMG_1510.jpg) ![IMG_1548.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmdkV5pS2SKwiUqNVM7YeMrAPyNq7M17eggUPyugAfuvNj/IMG_1548.jpg) ![IMG_1575.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmTjEmdVHkTkS5D1R9QiYbJRmc6epXqobyE2CW2srMP5e8/IMG_1575.jpg) ![IMG_1579.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmdRGahNekbeCvqYwqgqgrmnYdZtLTFj3fZT4aaF9AD7kZ/IMG_1579.jpg) ![IMG_1534.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmRT22kxBkUvjf8ADF44Brdh3CxpY4sQph3UQneuBsqGWb/IMG_1534.jpg) ![IMG_1488.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmTof9tsWYrMMSy4pFNzKpssr7NLZJ4cWzm8pA3dmWNLjx/IMG_1488.jpg) ![IMG_1536.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmd4QYzGFQR6JfcBEGZaC5EKambEAckWZvGSwe6kskFo2M/IMG_1536.jpg) ![IMG_1485.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmVmNAiXzmCRx61CJL87zbp3w2dK9foCHmZshLRcLrcLHf/IMG_1485.jpg) ![insignia.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmXPHA4at9hTkfRZhc76uh7Eg5YjdjdXfLPsMDceWLuZL7/insignia.jpg) ![IMG_1413.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmTrESDPn7vTZ1ffVPZzo3YGdxGktBokhgriC62diLRjQh/IMG_1413.jpg) ![IMG_1347.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmfSivSVM5iXUsuA9fZ3VRcQdPPJevSfuqbE2W1FqpKFBY/IMG_1347.jpg) ![IMG_1399.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmXnF536KyfLSxtrqZvtDehEEsaiQH2bLNkasHZpMDyxQ5/IMG_1399.jpg) ![side.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmR4mN2HVM6QjVQkNsj1L4Me1A4Q3sZjrW9F3d3X1Eo5cg/side.jpg) ![painting-back.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmcj7VXBXecWgKhcBiEyr8gbWDc4WCznimFYvEgHffSYqZ/painting-back.jpg) ![IMG_1417.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmNs9LX1wmvDbm9kK4x2EFmX8xYYNsxcUgSXF6Vmmuio3J/IMG_1417.jpg)_As always, Harvey helping in his usual manner_ ![jessica.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmTkV2Dhi2LvmhZC9BmQgRbZohCFdc3J5bw7i74jq7y8Pf/jessica.jpg)_Amanda got into character for the event_ And finally here is the piano at a temporary location where it was a huge hit with the public. ![1457667_412170058912109_1745144955_n.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmXWv3QEyjYjuXQoDeTZKN7GWyjv6KKvDeY1TXRrVxG1uf/1457667_412170058912109_1745144955_n.jpg) Last but not least, here is a short video from the event. I may be a little biased, but ours was my favorite! https://youtu.be/8BxekkBSeNw_See this video and more on [ArtActivate.com](http://artactivate.com/keys.php)_ My and Amanda's time was volunteered for this project and no profit was made by us. Please upvote and resteem to show your support for the arts!