100 Faces in 100 days! I finally finished!

Well I didn't think it would feel as though the time flew by when I started this project. I am feeling a bit surprised by my own sadness at ending this project. I am exceedingly happy to have done it though and tonight I'll be at our local thrift store that raises money for animal shelters. They are having an art walk and I'll bring my faces with me. I do love talking about this project. I have some things in the works regarding this work. I haven't really had the time to focus on it but I will now. I may take a few days off from painting, to do some much needed organizing. I tend to focus solely on painting and nothing else. hahah ..

There was a person that said they were looking forward to my grand finale. .. and I wanted the paintings to be extra special but I'm a little spent on the thinking aspect of this project. I wanted my work to be extra special and so I painted the elephant to go with all the Africa stories that I wrote about and this little guy is just so cute and my mom loved her elephants and had several wood carved elephants in her home.

I am really just so happy to push myself to paint every single day and I want to paint more and bigger and different things besides faces and what not. I realized how much I love color too and how I can use it to make me feel really happy. Some of the paintings really gave me great satisfaction. Some I realized the frustration of not being able to get it just perfect and sometimes I just had to say enough!! It's enough... and then as the days went on I painted longer and more details.. sometimes I wanted to paint less.. I'm just really glad to have made this commitment and stuck with it.. WOO HOO .. . I want to celebrate so I am guessing it will be tonight at the art walk.. by my self and with anyone else that comes over. So .. about the second painting here. I realized that my love of painting faces is the eyes. It's hard to paint the eyes or a close up of an elephant because they are so big. I really wanted to paint eyes for the end and so I lamented a bit and decided to paint a cat face with big eyes. I like how it turned out. So it's kind of a celebration that I have two paintings instead of one. I started out day one with three faces and so i'm ending with two. I think i'll go jump for joy!!!! Thank you to all of you that came over and commented and wrote to me on facebook and purchased my art. I have really been awwed by the support. Maybe one day I'll have lots more commenters but i have appreciated those that have. I'm just happy ..Thank you .. for watching even if you never said a thing. :) Its good .. it's all good.

The elephant and the cat face are both about 10 3/4 x 13 1/2 the biggest I think so far. They are each for sale for $100. If you would like to purchase one of these please email me at iwilldream4ever@aol.com. Thank you again .. it's been a wild ride and amazing. Oh and I'm not going to stop blogging .. I may do another project like this in the future. I will be making an announcement soon about what will happen with the portraits that are still available. Please do come back to my blog and see what I'm up too .. remember artists are people too and we need to make art and we need to make a living while we do it so please support artists by buying their work. It's important and it is valuable. We make the world a bit more interesting. Please help us do what we are meant to do. :)

Day 99 and Under the Sea

Today is almost over .. i fell asleep as I was about to edit the photo of this and then write the post. Fortunately, I am awake again and I still have about a half hour before the day is officially over.

I decided to paint this beautiful fish today because it reminded me that I was so fortunate to have snorkled or swam in the red sea. One day I went with my mother to snorkle in the water out in front of the hotel where we would stay sometimes when we'd go to the port about three hours away from our home in Africa. We were in a sort of bay and there was a kind of jetty with a lighthouse .. we decided to go and check out the water's along the jetty. When we got to the other side the water was deeper and the view was like a magical garden of fish and color and beauty that I could only imagine in my head but there it was right in front of my eyes. This painting reminds me of that scene. I always recall that moment as feeling as if I'd jumped into a treasure box. I'll never forget what I saw.

If you would love to own this beautiful fish please email me at iwilldream4ever@aol.com.  Thank you for your support during this experience. I can't believe that this will be the last time for me to write .. see you tomorrow in this project. :)

Day 97 and Jacques

Today is day 97 and while this isn't exactly Jacques it is painted in his memory. For a long time as we were growing up we always loved going to my grandma and grandpa's house. They were my mom's parents. We always had fun there and they were always loving on us. There was always good food and fun. There was also a little budgie named Jacques. And a gorgeous dog named Cookie. We loved both of them. If we were good my grandpa would let us go over to Jacques cage and open the door and put our finger out and he would hop right onto it. It was always fun to put him on our heads. He always seemed to like that and sometimes he would pull your hair. I think I remember he even would give kisses. He was never mean and always sweet. I don't know when he passed on and I don't know how old he was when he died but I always remember him being on my head and sitting on my finger. I'm glad to have thought of him and to paint this image of a bird just like him. It's good to finally get a painting done earlier than usual. Just three day's to go. :) If you would love to own this beautiful painting of this budgie, email me at iwilldream4ever@aol.com. See you tomorrow.

Day 96 and Hedgehogs

Today is Day 96 and this is a Hedgehog. I think these are the cutest little creatures. When I lived in Africa I went to school at a military school. We were fortunate to be a part of a wonderful community of people. A group of American's living in Africa. I was eleven when we left so all of my experiences there were up to that age. I know I was at least ten when I would ride my bicycle to school and sometimes I would ride the bus. If I rode the bus sometimes I would walk to my best friends house. One day on my way home we went by another friends house. We went up to her house because when we walked by she was outside on her front porch. As we got closer we saw that she was sitting in front of a box and we went over and looked inside and this is what we saw. There were two or three in there. They were so cute they looked like miniature porcupines. We got to hold them and they were so sweet. We didn't hold them for very long before we put them back. I had forgotten about them until yesterday when I saw a photo of one somewhere.. This little guy reminded me of how adorable they were. Not sure they make good pets or not but they are cute.

If you would like to own this cute painting of a hedgehog email me at iwilldream4ever@aol.com. Four day's left and so I'll be back tomorrow. :)

Day 95 and Frog faces

Well today is day 95 and there are now only 5 left to go. It's been amazing really. I really just find myself enjoying the painting and I spend a good bit of time on each of these paintings and even though I try to limit that I enjoy it so much that I put more and more into each one. Somehow the maps just seem to make a great background for the creatures that I have been painting on them. These guys have such personality with their big big eyes. and what appears to be a big smile. This is a tree frog but I've come across many toads in my life. One my dog got to messing with and I rescued it from her grip.. the toad just sort of sat there as if it were dead and then much later it was gone. I hoped that it was just resting and playing possom and that is what I hope and believe. And i've imagined it hopping away when the coast was clear enough to leave.

If you would love to own this cute frog face just email me at iwilldream4ever@aol.com. And have a great day. See you tomorrow!

Day 94 and The Northern Mockingbird

Today is Day 94 and the Florida State Bird. I did a Mockingbird yesterday but it was yellow. This one is grey and brownish. I don't know that I ever knew that this was the state bird. I love the realism of the eye on this bird. It's painted on a map of Florida that is on a book cover. I always thought that the Florida state bird was a scrub jay. There is something that seems very interesting about the size of the bird over the map.

I think that the best thing about painting this many paintings is the quantity .. and I'm excited about what will be next. I really have enjoyed most of it .. except for the late night hold my eyelids open with a toothpick nights. Not fun. I hope to have the day's to paint and I won't wait till the last minute to work on the things I love to do. I will always paint .. I don't know that I will always choose realism but I will always paint.

If you would like to own this bird face please write to me at iwilldream4ever@aol.com. See you tomorrow and for the next four days after that .. woo hoo.!!!

Today is day 92 and the Baltimore Oriole

Today is day 92 !!!  Almost there and today my life feels a little more normal and I am painting again in the MORNING!!! yes I have discovered the time of painting joy yet again!!! I decided to paint this bird because everyone .. lots of people love the birds. I love nature and I love birds too. This is painting is on a map that I have sewn to an old photo folder the ones where they open and have a paper mat for a  photograph. This one probably had a family portrait in it at one time but more then likely was put into an album and my mom decided to keep the folder. The map is of Virginia and Maryland and Washington D.C. Two states that I lived in. Virginia was a little town near Haymarket where I went to school and the other in Maryland where I graduated from High School. SO the Orioles are Maryland's state bird. They have such beautiful orangish yellow feathers .. so lovely. This is a young bird. I like the background of the map and I loved living in both states. We were close enough to visit the wonderful museums in Washington D.C. I spent many trips going to all the art museums there when I lived in both states. Maryland is where I lived my art.. I entered my portfolio into scholastic art awards and got my portfolio picked for judging out of many that were entered. It was the first time that anyone entered portfolio's at our school and three students entered and all three of us were accepted for review. Two of us won something we were told. We would find out at the awards ceremony. One was for a full four year scholarship to an art college of our choice. I couldn't sleep for a week. Sadly I didn't win. I think it would have changed my life and the course that it took over the next 30 or so years. I do still wish I had won but I am who I am because of all that happened. When I paint .. i try to paint my heart and soul right there, no matter who or what I'm painting. I'm really very grateful to be painting every day for the last 92 days and there were some bumps in the road but I've kept true to my commitment. I am amazed when I see all the work there in front of me that I haven't sold yet. I have eight more paintings to do .. and I'm just going to have fun with it..

If you would like to own this painting today of a Baltimore Oriole bird face please email me at iwilldream4ever@aol.com. See you tomorrow .. !!!

Day 83 and White Squirrels

Today is day eighty three and that means that there are only 17 left to do !!!!!

Last fall I was staying with my son for a while as I transitioned from my home in SC to where I am now in the sunshine state. As we were doing things around the town that my son lives in NC, we were driving down the road where his cabin is and suddenly he was making a U turn and telling me he wanted to show me something. We pulled into the long drive of a persons home and he pointed to a tree. Knowing that I love nature he told me just to wait and they would appear. I said what am I looking for? He said they are white squirrels. I sat there skeptical for a minute and then sure enough, two white squirrels came scurrying around a tree and playing and then another came from the bushes to add to the fun.

I was amazed and delighted to see these beautiful little creatures that most people really don't like. I guess it's because they are always stealing the bird seed. Probably one of my most fun ways to feed the squirrels was a time when my family had purchased a small wooden throne that had a nail in front of a seat. The throne was small enough for a squirrel to sit in and the nail was for a dried corn cob which squirrels love to eat. I sat in front of the window many times watching the squirrels eat corn. Free entertainment I'd say .. i love nature and I love the white squirrels.

If you would like today's portrait of a squirrel it is painted on a repurposed file folder with calligraphy practice paper and wrapping paper and a scripture card all glued to the folder the cards main word "grace" can be seen i think on the arm of the squirrel. He does seem to emulate grace. the size is approx. 9.5 x 11.5. Please email me at iwilldream4ever@aol.com if you are interested. See you tomorrow.

Day 82 Shambell

Today is day 82 and I did start this earlier and came back to it this evening. It's been a week that feels a bit like a fog because I've been so tired emotionally and physically. Today felt more normal than usual haha. This is good.

Tonight I decided to write about Shambell. I may have talked about her before when I talked about riding horses when we lived in Africa. I learned to ride at the British Consulates. My mom used to take my brother and I when we first started going. We always went with a guide and we always got to run the horses sometime and if we weren't careful they would run back to the stables on their way back when they knew it was time to go home. I always rode Shambell. She was a beautiful black stallion. I loved this horse. I loved her. When we left Africa I was just eleven years old. By the last year or so my brother and I would walk to the stables by ourselves and ride with the guide .. it was fairly inexpensive so I was often asking my mom for money to go horseback riding. It was incredibly fun. I always wanted to brush the horse when we got back. I was always grateful to the horse for letting me ride her. This is painted on a childhood storybook that was oddly enough Black Beauty, it's what got me thinking about Shambell. This experience always had me wishing for a horse as I was growing up. Sadly, there was never again any horseback riding in that way ever again after coming stateside. Except for one time when my uncle who had horses on his cattle farm rode with me on a horse to see if any babies had been born one morning. I had told him that I was comfortable riding a horse. When he saw there was a new calf he decided to stay and watch him for a bit and asked me if I wanted to ride the horse back to the stables. I excitedly said sure! He was something of a joker and decided to put me in my place and hit the horses rump and yelled "Get!!" and of course the horse took off and ran like a race horse all the way back to the stable. I held on for dear life and had to duck to get past a door threshold going into the barn. I was lucky I didn't hurt myself .. my Uncle thought it was funny .. No matter what, I've always loved horses.

If you would like to own this horse painting email me at iwilldream4ever@aol.com. This painting is 7.5 x 11.5. See you tomorrow!!!

Day 71

“I hope you will go out and let stories, that is life, happen to you, and that you will work with these stories... water them with your blood and tears and your laughter till they bloom, till you yourself burst into bloom.” 
― Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype

This is my offering .. it is where I am today .. I think of this amazing woman when I see a wolf. I dreamed once of three white wolves. I waited all day to paint today.. to much going on .. this one turned out to my satisfaction and I thoroughly enjoyed painting. 

Now i am tired .. 

If you would love to own this beautiful wolf email me at iwilldream4ever@aol.com. I even machine sewed a spiral into the paper.. first time I have done that .. 

See you tomorrow and have a wonderful rest of the day.. :) 

Day 70 and just where I'm at today

Today is day seventy and everything is not always about the past. I am concurrently doing two projects at the moment. My daily painting of which now I am more than two thirds done and I am doing a two week project with Slow Fashion Style with Katrina Rodabaugh and we have a group for this class on facebook that is closed but she is talking about it on her blog. This is a huge amount of fun and I find that I want to chat with everyone only that's probably not possible. I feel like i'm immersed in like minded people, most are women. Then this morning in my usual touring of the web and bloggersphere I found this..by Amy Meissner. She warned people about her story so of course I was more intrigued but then I read the whole post and even watched the video at the end and that just tipped it over the edge for me. What an incredible video and such a smart woman that Amy is. To write so eloquently about a subject that we just don't really ever talk about is brave and fantastic really. One thing that she touched on that resonated with me regarding another project that I have talked about but that is more behind the scenes then I would like it too be and that is Josephine's work at Child in Uganda. She had mentioned that some of the girls will not go to school for the same reasons in Amy's post and also due to no female bathrooms and also not having the funds to go to school. I wish that I could snap my fingers and give her all that she needs for her work there and to help the children grow up and have an opportunity to live a long and happy life. And Amy's post made me realize how I missed out on my own daughter's coming imto womanhood and I hope she won't be embarrassed that I posted about this .. i really just wanted to publicly acknowledge that I missed out on a big big wonderful part of who she is .. a wonderfully beautiful and talented woman. And while this portrait isn't her it is like her in so many ways .. those big beautiful dark eyes and thick eyebrows only her hair is not dark but a beautiful curly auburn red. I wanted to also say that I love her my daughter so much and wish hope and happiness for her with all my heart .. there is a heart on this portrait. She is on my heart. The words love and mercy are written there on a calligraphy practice page by my own mother .. it is part of a bible verse she wrote .. I have your back my beautiful daughter even when I can't do all that you need.. I root for you.. I am hoping for you and .. i pray for you. I want to go to the ends of the earth for you. ..

Today's post is trying to be brave like Amy .. and speak truth from my heart. If you would like to have this portrait, please email me at iwilldream4ever@aol.com. It is painted on a reclaimed file divider with a page of calligraphy text written on my my mother and some pattern tissues. I am using all these items that my mother saved for a long long time and instead of discarding everything I am using them as a canvas to paint portraits of people and animals and tell stories about Africa and everything else.  Thanks for stopping over and I'll see you tomorrow.

Day 58 and Gremlins

Day fifty eight and if you follow me you may have wondered if I may have missed today's portrait .. I am actually so tired it's the first day that I was worried that I might not make it. I even made a pot of coffee to help me stay awake. Something I would never do.

I'll have to be more careful in the future. This little guy is my version of a jungle gremlin. I'll have to write this quickly cause I have already fallen asleep once while typing this . Lol .. i't seriously difficult.


I picked this little guy just because when I was a little girl and we would go to the base theater to watch a movie and my dad would walk up to the girl behind the window and say two adults and three gremlins. I always thought of myself as daddies little girl. I am not a little girl anymore. I am sure my dad loves me because I am his daughter, but I think that's all i know for sure. I always thought it was funny that he thought we were gremlins. What's a gremlin? Then a movie about them made them be something that people loved to watch. That's about all I can utter . .. just about falling asleep.

If you would like to own this beautiful eyed creature, email me at iwilldream4ever@aol.com. It's a file divider with a pattern and a small card glued to this surface. it's about 8 x 12 $58. thank you and good night .. see you tomorrow..

Day 56 and it's a donkey

Today's painting is day fifty six. I guess I am sad some today but love today's painting. One year ago today my mother died. She took her last breath sometime in the morning around 10:30. I didn't get to be with her, I was with my son and I was sick with a cold. It was a bad day all around. I think the only thing I was grateful for was the end of her suffering. She had Alzheimer's and it was really bad at the end. I was also grateful that I had spent those few months with her comforting her and giving her backrubs and retelling stories of Africa and other silly funny things that we did as children and as mother and daughter. I wanted to give her joy as much as I was able. No doubt in a my life I had already given her enough grief.

I thought a while about what I wanted to paint and decided to do a donkey or burro she loved them. She has always had a fondness for them and so I painted this just because she loved them. I couldn't really think of a story about a donkey that went with it any more then just knowing that she loved them. That's all for today and I think I'll go outside and enjoy the sunshine ..

If you would like to own this sweet donkey email me at iwilldream4ever@aol.com. It's painted on an old file divider, nothing extra today with this one.. i just didn't have it in me. See you tomorrow.

Day 53 and Sea Horses

Today all I could think about was how much I love nature and creatures. I find that after writing so much about the time that I lived in Africa as a child, I realize that I have had a love of nature from childhood. We often went to the beach in the early years of living there and later we would go to a place we called the TTU. I'm sure it stands for something but I don't know what that is. The TTU was like a hotel in my child mind. This was a change from staying on the beach camping, where there was always sand in your shoes, to being in a place where you could swim, ski or just sit outside and enjoy the view. Here we could go back to a room after playing hard and shower, get dressed and go somewhere else to have breakfast, lunch or dinner. We went here often too. My mom and dad loved to water ski. I never found it something I wanted to try. My sister was afraid of the water unless we were swimming at the beach. Sometimes my mom would take us on the boat to watch her ski. As we got older this wasn't something we enjoyed very much. One day we bored out of our minds so we asked if we could swim to the beach at the TTU.. it was in the bay we were skiing in. So the boat goes as close as it could and off we jump into the water and swim over the beach. We would play there but there wasn't the long distance of shallow water so it wasn't as much fun. The deep dropped off ... one day my sister and I were playing here in this water and we didn't always look at what was around us but somehow we found ourselves looking at little tiny sea horses! We were so excited we ran up to the tables where were sitting and found some paper cups so we could catch this wonderfully magic creature. Their little tails were wound up into a spiral and they would swim around and move their tails. They were amazing to watch. I don't think I have ever seen them since then. It was a magical memory that I'm so grateful to remember. The beginning of my love of nature.

If you would love to own this beautifully magical creature, email me at iwilldream4ever@aol.com. This is painted on a cover to a catalog and piece of wrapping paper and an envelope all sewn together. It is about 8x10 in size and is painted in acrylic.. have you noticed the added use of color? I love it!! See you tomorrow .. i'll be back.

Day 52 Emu

I had to laugh when I titled this Day 52 Emu... just cause it rhymes a bit. I mu Emu we all mu.

I have no story about an Emu. I really just loved this face. They do look a bit like an Ostrich. The Emu is from another country that I have unfortunately never been too.

I know they were in Africa but I don't recall ever having any chance to see any up close. We did however have an Ostrich egg lamp. I am suspecting that my mother bought it at the market where she really wasn't supposed to go shopping. My mother had a very adventurous spirit. She was either very fearless or naive to the dangers she could encounter. I don't think that she ever felt that any person was unapproachable if she just had the right words or a big enough smile. Her favorite thing to do was take us down a road we'd never been. Often we were traveling by car to some destination. I think I inherited my mothers sense of time which means we both didn't have a very good one. If we were on a vacation driving and she was the driver it didn't really matter to her how we got there or how long it would take. She always wanted to veer off the highways and onto back roads. The scary sentence we dreaded was, "lets just see where this goes." Off we would go and sometimes we could end up on a road that wasn't really even a road, but someones driveway. All her passengers/children were usually URGING her to stop or turn around because we were sure we were going to be shot by the property owners. Well that never happened but we did often come upon some interesting places. It was this spirit that we objected too that also took us to many wonderful and incredible places. I am approaching the first anniversary of my mother's passing, so I'm grateful really to be doing this processing, this remembering. This REmemoring of my life with her.

If you would love to own this cute face of an EMU .. email me at iwilldream4ever@aol.com. Have a wonderful day and I'll see you tomorrow. :) Oh and this face is sewn wrapping paper and a map and a calendar. The size is about 8 1/2 x 9 and painted with acrylic paint. The map was from South Dakota. That place is another story on another day. haha.

Day 51 and a Baboon

Today I am tired from so much running around. I have so many things I want and need to do but I just don't know if I'll be able to stay awake much longer. I had to forgo putting my day 51 face online this morning so I'm doing it now .. I love how this turned out, and I am excited to put new animal faces online.

This is a baboon. Yes today's story is about several of them. We were on a way to the port of Massawa on the coast of Africa. It was a place where many American's could go, that were living there, to have rest and relaxation. It was a three and a half hour drive and about 300 kilometers. I know it was 300 kilometers because we would count the markers that marked each one. The drive began with a series of switchbacks that lasted about an hour or more... it seemed way too long no matter how many times we'd been down that road. When ever there are children in the car there is bound to be stops that are needed for potty breaks. There was only one place on the way that you could stop and use a restroom facility and I think we were always expected or obligated to purchase the fabulous lemonade that they made fresh. It was exactly half way to the destination. There were many times it wasn't open. Any breaks before or after were a quick stop on the side of the road and out you plopped .. dropped your drawers and hurryup and back inside. One time, well many times it was me that had to do this. This particular time I did my quick squat and as I was pulling my britches up .. I looked up the side of the mountain above me and saw several baboons .. they were in a small group just staring at me. I quickly got in the car and as I sat on the seat by the window I looked again to see a few children sitting up there in a different spot with big smiles .. I think my face was about as red as the bottoms of the baboons. .. I am pretty sure I made a point of looking first after that. Never got too close to the baboons like in this painting but they sure are interesting creatures. This one has particularly beautiful eyes.

Now .. i can relax and settle into a restful evening. If you would like to own this interesting baboon email me at iwilldream4ever@aol.com. It's painted on a file divider, no extra charge for the tab.. it is about 101/2 x 12 if you include the tabs sticking out. It has an airmail posted envelope and a map glued to the front with clear acrylic medium and it is painted in acrylic. See you tomorrow.  

Day 50 and Half way there!!!!

Today is day fifty and I just had to mix it up a bit. I have to say .. I LOVE this giraffe.

He is so sweet .. how could you not love a giraffe with those big black eyes?

I am excited to be half way through and maybe do some different faces then what any one would expect. I may go back to other ones but I just had to do this...

Today I am off to visit someone that I love dearly. My godmother Anne. She has always been a wonderful loving woman and her daughter, who is my age, I have always called a god sister.. even though I don't know that there is such a thing. So her and her family are like my family. I haven't always stayed in touch. I have never been like my godmother and written back to her when she would write me countless letters. But I have always loved her attention and thoughtfulness. Sometimes we learn to be more thoughtful before it's too late. Perhaps like me she needed to be reminded that she was loved from time to time by me. Today I hope to convey that to her .. while there is still a chance to do it. I have to say that she took her job as my godmother very seriously. She never ever forgot me .. her charge to make sure that I knew about my beliefs and faith was well done. She always sent me sunday school lessons and letters and cards while we lived in Africa. She always proudly announced that I was her godchild whenever we went home for a visit. I did the same to her later .. when I was finally confirmed, grown and married with my own children. I had many opportunities to return the favor that she was my godmother. I got to be with her on her 80th birthday. So today I'll go and reminisce and love on her as best I can just because I can. I'm grateful for that.

IF you would love to have this adorably cute giraffe in your house .. just email me at iwilldream4ever@aol.com and let me know. He's fifty dollars and a portion will go to the CHILDUG.org organization in Uganda. Thanks for following and write something to me .. is anybody out there? I know Mary Anne .. is .. faithful follower .. i know there are lurkers.. .. ok no worries .. thanks for looking. See you tomorrow.

Day 49 Childhood Escapades

Day forty nine and today's portrait is painted on a thick paper board that I have glued tissue paper and an airmail letter from friends to my parents. This is postmarked Australia. One place in the world that I would love to go but have never been.

We traveled quite a lot when we lived in Africa because we would always go stateside every summer while living there. My parents were always taking us to a variety of destinations on the way there and on the way back. Over time they developed friendships with people that lived in some of those places. Today the story is about what happened one day when we went to visit friends in Italy. I think it was Rome. I don't know who it was that we were visiting but it was a second or third floor apartment. This was one of those times that we were all dressed up and visiting a family that had children. None of the required quiet and stillness was necessary for this visit. We were instructed to go play while my parents visited with the parents of our new friends. They spoke English well enough to tell us after a warming up period that we should play hide and seek. There were probably about five or six children scurrying around this unfamiliar place to find a place to hide. I didn't always like to play this and my sense of urgency to hide and need for bodily functions had me headed to the closest bathroom. I went inside and quickly turned the lock. The lock was not any ordinary lock, it was a dial that when turned slid a piece of metal from one side into a piece of bracketed metal. It was a tight fit. The entire mechanism was on the inside of the door. So i was able to see the metal move into the bracket and off I went to the use the facilities. I couldn't really tell who was still hiding or not .. so after washing my hands and having a look around an Italian home bathroom I decided to sneak out and see where everyone was. I went over to this interesting lock and yes .. I tried turning the dial the other way. My young hands and fingers just couldn't make that dial turn back not even with two little hands grasping it for dear life. I was beginning to feel just a bit worried that I might not be able to get out. I felt pretty silly and finally after trying for a several minutes I don't remember if I hollered out or if my parents came looking for me and discovered my plight. No matter, because I do recall my father trying to talk me through all the attempts that I tried to turn the dial again and again. This was embarrassing because no matter how many times I tried, I couldn't budge the heavy metal plate that was securing that door. So after much discussion on the other side by the adults. My father told me to get into the tub. I couldn't imagine why I should do such an odd thing. He told me to put my head down and told me that he was going to knock the door down. I was of course scared that I was going to be in big trouble. I had closed the shower curtain and laid in the tub while the wild knocking and busting down of the door commenced. It was pretty quick that the door was flung open and the pieces went flying about and everyone came over to the tub to see if I was ok. I felt horrible. It really wasn't something that you could scold me to badly over. I can't imagine they would tell me to "never lock the door when you go into a persons bathroom". "You should know better than to lock a door when you go to the bathroom." None of those scoldings would have fit. They just made heavy apologies to their friends and we left. It was scary and just one of many of my childhood escapades.

If you would like to own today's portrait which is day #49 and therefore $49. Please email me at iwilldream4ever@aol.com. Today I was up early and I am going to have some fun today. I will however most likely lock whatever restroom I enter. haha .. See you tomorrow.

Day 48 and still going

Day 48..

oh dear .. i may be getting a bit bored .. aaaacckkk!!! I'm not sure what it means .. but I do still love to paint faces. There is a thing I think with artists, that you paint something until you are done with it. I have over fifty days to go yet till I am done painting faces. I may have to mix it up a bit.

I have some ideas in the works, in fact that is often my downfall. I have too many ideas. I don't know if they are going to be successful or not but that doesn't really matter. The best part is that I just keep going on . ..I'm committed and the daily practice has proved beneficial to me in so many ways. I had a wonderfully validating experience with showing several of my completed faces to someone in person. That .. did a lot for my confidence. I think even stacking up the paintings and seeing them all there in a pile....it stands for many hours of creativity. Lots of writing even.

I have found that my contact with Josephine is really having a huge impact on me. So far away and yet we can email and have immediate communication. I find it amazing and she tells me her hopes for the children and I have asked her to send me photos of the children drawing faces. She said that she is amazed that they seem to want to do this. I LOVE THAT >>>> I love that they are now asking their friends to sit still so they can do a portrait. The thing about children that is amazingly wonderful is their way of seeing what they see. There eyes are fresh and unafraid .. there are no mistakes. There are no mistakes. Your hope and desire or passion about your attempts to draw are seen in the work. I believe that. So .. i hope to share some of the children's drawings with you in the days to come. This part of what I'm doing .. makes me feel truly inspired .. filled with gratitude. I want for the children to have what ever the children need. So I will urge you yet again to go to ChildUG.org and make a donation.
To the children .. i love your drawings .. keep drawing, keep going. You have my heart!!!

If you would like to purchase today's portrait a portion of the sale of this face will go to ChildUG.org. I am also committed to doing that here on out. Email me at iwilldream4ever@aol.com. This is painted on papers that my mother saved in a lifetime of collecting and i have put them together with a sewing machine and painted on them. This face is approximately 8 x 10.  See you tomorrow.!!!

Day 47 of 100 faces in 100 days

Day 47

And so it continues. Some day's I just get lost in the portrait. .. this is a dark face......the eyes are staring into space it seems ..

This is the only thing this makes me think of.

I had a teacher once .. probably one of the only really hard stories I recall while living in Africa. But she was my first grade teacher. First grade where your supposed to love school. Love learning. I was a busy talkative girl. Probably loved painting and drawing even then.. I had to stand in line to go out of the room we were in. I guess I was talking too much. I'm quite certain I was happy to be there and most likely chatting with a girl nearby but I don't recall. What I do however remember is out of nowhere I felt this burning sting on the back of my right calf.  My leg was bare under the dress I was wearing and I screamed out at this sting and quickly I looked at this spot on my leg to see a long red mark on the back of my leg. Standing over me was my first grade teacher, Mrs. H .. i'll refrain from saying her real name. She was looking at me with a face of disdain and told me I should remember to be quite when I was standing in line. The tears welled up in my eyes and I tried to look straight ahead and quite my desire to start sobbing. The only other thing I can remember about this woman was that when it was time for us to paint fingernail polish on empty plastic bleach containers I spilled my polish and got into trouble again. I don't remember second and third grade at all. I have no recollection of who the teachers were or what I did. Always interesting to note I find .. So .. this face is a comtemplation. And a reminder that old stings linger still .... best to use less harshness with children I'm thinking. Best to show kindness and love rather then harsh words and violent use of punishment to make a point. So .. i realize no one may want to own the back story on this painting but .. it is what it is. You probably don't read these anyway. I guess it just helps me get through the process some days. It's all good .

If you want to own this portrait email me at iwilldream4ever@aol.com. This portrait is $47. It is painted on a file folder with a piece of tissue paper from the wrapping paper bin and an old letter I wrote to my parents when they were away. See you tomorrow..