Turtle Painting Fiasco

Last weekend, my husband and I went to an art show across the street from our house. Walking through the different tents, I noticed one with carved wooden Maasai men. As soon as I saw them, I knew where the artist must be from... so I went up and asked him "Are you from Kenya?" and he said "Yes!!" We talked for 15 minutes and it turns out that I had visited the town where he is from. Meeting him made my day! I wanted to buy one of his stone animals, so I got this little turtle. It may be a tortoise. I don't really know. I thought it would be a great subject of a painting.

This is what I started to paint. Then I realized, I couldn't really see a turtle in this painting. I just hated it... so I went over it with turpentine and now its gone. Now that I'm looking at it again, I don't think its that bad and maybe I should have kept it! I will probably paint another cross... and I'll just have to paint the turtle another time.

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Elephants

I have been collecting elephants since I was about five years old. A family friend, who is like a grandmother to me, collects them and she is the one who got me started. She is supposedly leaving me her huge collection in her will. I've had most of my elephants since I was a kid, and I don't remember where I got most of them. Hopefully, I will always remember that my husband bought me this cute elephant lamp for Christmas this year.

So because I love elephants, and I am on this new painting kick, I decided to try painting an elephant using the lamp as a model. This is what I came up with. It looks a little childlike, but I think its cute. I wanted him to be on the Maasai Mara, because that's the best place for an elephant to live. If you ever start an elephant collection, it's important that their trunks are upward. Elephants with their trunks down are bad luck!11x14

Africa

A few years ago, I had the opportunity to take a trip to Kenya. This was one of the best trips I have ever been on. If you ever have the chance to go to Africa, you should go! It was so amazing to see things in person that I had only heard about or seen on TV. Kenya is such a beautiful place and has some of the most wonderful and kind people.

This was one of my favorite pictures I took while I was there. I started a painting of it 3 years ago. As you can see it isn't finished yet. I am too afraid to paint the people! I just want it to look right and I've never painted little people like that before. So who knows if it will ever get finished?!

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