wings

To see angels flying around, use your wings

 ~paulo coelho~

 

 

finding peace

Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.

~Pablo Picasso~

 

i've been in this weird space since i've been back from africa that's almost impossible to put in words. everyone tells me, "africa changes you"...i believe them. 

 

since i've been back i've had no interest in drawing. i pick up my pencil and nothing appears on the paper. i have tried to resist what's really calling me...collages. but finally gave in last night. in between driving my kids to youth group and soccer practices, i had a 45 minute window of opportunity, so i went for it. it's been almost two years since i've worked on creating collages but let me tell you...i was in the zone.

 

i woke up this morning feeling totally at peace. 

i have spent almost my entire adult life chastising myself for not being able to stick to one medium, one subject, even one theme. every time i get close to getting a portfolio together i feel like i'm done with it and i want to move onto something fresh. now normally i would say, that's fine, but for someone like me who wants to be an artist full time, it makes it rather difficult when consistency is not my forte. i'm also slightly jealous of those that can sustain consistency in their body of work.

 

but this morning i woke up and thought, instead of fighting it, why don't i use it to my advantage. YES..that's it! eureka! 

how yet...i don't know. but i can feel it's right there, in the back of my head just waiting to reveal itself.

over the weekend...

"Let the beauty of what you love be what you do"

Paulo Coelho 

 

okay...so i really haven't created much art to speak of since i've been back from kenya. yeah sure, over the weekend, when time has permitted i've worked on my tree commission, which by the way is progressing. and there were countless hours editing 4500 photos from africa. but what i have mostly been doing is a lot of behind the scenes stuff, getting ready to open my new etsy shop. i've encountered a few snags a long the way with my printer, so unfortunately it's taking longer than expected. :-(

 

 

 and always from mid august to end of september it's really mostly about the girls anyway. with getting ready for school, soccer season starting and everything that comes with that, back to school night, and this year we've added endless trips to the dentist and orthodontist. plus i have to tell you that being a single mom of two teenagers is just slightly overwhelming and challenging. the attitudes are in full check and the needs are high. and that's not always easy to deal with...altho i do have to say i am becoming way better at handling it. thank god for my sense of humor, the animals, dark chocolate with sea salt, friends and family, alcohol and art! not necessarily in that order!

 

 so stay tuned, soon i'll have my shop up and running with some awesome give a ways to boot!!yay!

 

 

 

a day at the LA fair

last day in kenya :-(

our last afternoon in kenya...lunch at the serena hotel with peter, his family, some of  our group and 4 high school kids from the group, kenya-help.org

peter, one of our fabulous guides started a group about 4 years ago to help the children of kenya. unlike america's school system, kenya's schools are only free until 8th grade, after that it costs roughly $750-$1000 for a child to go to high school. it's so hard when a child is intelligent, loves school and wants to learn but their families can not afford the tuition. so peter started this small grass roots organization to help. they've grown to 16 families in the past 4 years and after these last two safari's with val, they have added another 9 sponsors!! yay!! my oldest sister has been apart of this program for 2 years now and i am soooooo happy and excited that i too can now participate in conjunction with my brother and other sister in sponsoring a child! it's so thrilling to be able to help make a huge difference in a child's life there in kenya! we won't know until january who our child will be because their school system is year round and the kids have to apply for this program. oh, it's so cool! there are many unique ways to help, if you're interested. the sister organization here in america is kenya-help.org. anything you can give makes such a ginormous difference in these kids lives...check it out!!

the great migration in masai mara

even tho my sister is smiling, in actuality our jaws dropped down to the ground when we saw our accommodations for the next 3 days. i have to say we got pretty spoiled with the other tented camps, especially the elephant bedroom. but we adjusted to the bucket showers and the toilet that wouldn't work because being right along the river full of hippos sounding off all night was really incredibly cool...it beat Carolyn's snoring at least!!

 we had an exciting morning filled with lion cubs, cheetahs with full bellys from their zebra kill the day before, leopards stalking tommy gazelles and the migration!! yeah! we spent hours at the river sitting, watching and eating cookies, cuz at first very few animals crossed, they always came close but then to our disappointment they turned around. but when the wildebeests and zebras  finally did jump in, the binoculars came up and the cameras started clicking away to capture this wondrous sight! one baby wildebeest almost didn't make it but at the last second he unhooked himself from a dead carcass and crossed to the other side...phew! there were plenty of hungry vultures and nasty looking crocodiles in wait for the ones who weren't so lucky.

on our last evening together :-( we dressed up with all the scarves and jewelry we bought along the way (the guys wore table clothes from the tents!) opened bottles of wine and tuskers and had a party!! and let me tell you...we had a blast...as you can see!! singing, dancing...and lots of laughing!

Samburu

 our next adventure took place at samburu national reserve along the ewaso ng'iro river or brown water river. we were close enough to drive this time, and the ride totally fascinated me. the small cities along the way were quite a culture shock from the pristine scenic areas that we had been use to. lots of garbage scattered everywhere, some of it was even used for the roofs of small stick homes. i was told not to look too obvious in shooting photos, so as we were driving along, i just placed my camera on my knee and started shooting, not knowing if they would turn out at all...but to my very happy surprise most of the images turned out quite well!

we arrived at the elephant bedroom camp where we were greeted by obama. the elephant that is!!

termite mounds are everywhere, some 10 ten tall and they can burrow down as far as 200 feet below ground, depending on the level of the water table.

the birds in kenya are amazing...such brilliant colored feathers. 

 this baby elephant put on quite a show for us...which was absolutely great cuz our vehicle's battery was dead and we couldn't go anywhere anyway until another jeep came by to give us a push. while we were stuck, we were mock charged by a bull elephant, which was a bit scary as we couldn't move but luckily he found a path around us.

 we stayed here 3 glorious days (ohhhhh how i loved the elephant bedroom camp!!)...but as i said before it was very dusty and windy, altho much warmer than the previous two places. and in this place any wild animal could roam thru the camp...in fact a few people could not leave their tents as elephants were right at their doorstep, but eventually shooed away by the staff throwing stones and waving palm leaves around! the first two camps had electric fences around them so the elephants could not come in, but even there you had to be escorted around. funny to see armed guards at these last two camps!

last stop... :-(  the bush camp in masai mara game reserve in south west kenya.