Do “Custom Fields” write to the theme cache?

I just uploaded and changed the theme of my blog. I really like the theme, and have it about 95% of the way done, but I cannot get the custom fields I have created to work properly.

For example, I created the custom field “image” with a value of “images/diverse-crowd.jpg” I have also tried the entire URL, uploading into the Media Library, etc. The directions for the theme says to give the full path to the image without the domain name.

The images directory is on the root level, where my wp-content folder is located.

In the “ElegantRed” theme I am using, the file sidebar-feature.php is to call up the image and place it on the blog. It cannot find the image because it was never written to the cache (the cache folder that is on the theme level).

I have set the permissions to this cache directory as 777 and cannot get it to write.

I am not sure if any of this makes sense, but I’ve spent about 7-8 hours trying to figure this out. If you have any clues, can you let me know.

Thanks much!!

Rich