/ Hi, some of …
/ Hi, some of you may know I have many shots in my folio shot in some of the poorest parts of Africa. I am pleased to say that one of my travelling companions Rebecca Zachariah has joined RB and has started uploading her shots. In Africa Bec & I discussed at length our desire for people to see the harsh reality of life there. We saw hundreds of people traumatised by war, AIDS and otherwise preventable disease. Some of these shots and stories are not for the faint hearted but they are for the warm hearted. I encourage you to check out Bec’s work. As I say, it’s brutally honest. But we believe incredibly necessary.
I sold my first picture!!!!!! This time it wasn’t was me!!! Thank you to whoever bought “Falling Leaves”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank y…
I sold my first picture!!!!!! This time it wasn’t was me!!! Thank you to whoever bought “Falling Leaves”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you!!! Thank you!!!!!!!!!! Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so happy!!!!!!!! I can’t get the smile off of my face!!!!!!!!!!! I feel like I am jumping through the roof!!!!!!!!
A very heartfelt thankyou to the person who bought a mounted print of One Step at a Time...
A very heartfelt thankyou to the person who bought a mounted print of One Step at a Time If you are a bubbler I would love for you to send me a bbmail so I can thank you personally.
Well after much agonising I have finally put together a calendar of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda shots I most like. Man it…
Well after much agonising I have finally put together a calendar of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda shots I most like. Man it’s been hard. But for what it’s worth here’s Melly’s choice picks. If anyone would like to purchase one for $30 you can bubblemail me. The $10 profit will go straight, smack into the hands of HEAL Africa. Hold on a minute 13 Melinda Kerr’s for JUST $30!!!! THAT’S DAYLIGHT ROBBERY!!!!!!!!! Seriously if you’re making a charity purchase this year consider HEAL Africa. These guys are awesome and they’re living at the coal face for us as much as anyone else :) / / / / / / / / / / / /
Many of you guys know my passion for the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda after visiting there as a photojournalist …
Many of you guys know my passion for the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda after visiting there as a photojournalist in April and May this year. Much of our time was spent at HEAL Africa Hospital in Goma, in the eastern province known as South Kivu. South Kivu is considered ‘lawless’ as the various militias roam the countryside and villages quite literally raping and pillaging. I say various because there are many. One consists of the remnants of those who slaughtered their fellow Rwandans 13 years ago, another is from Robert Mugabe’s private army (think ‘Blood Diamond’ – that’s their style). Yet another is secretly supported by the Rwandan government who are lured by the promise of diamonds and more land. You see D.R. Congo has the most natural resources of any country in Africa. This should be a cause for celebration. But it brings heartbreak, despair and the most overwhelming cruelty you could imagine possible. You must wonder at my obsession with this cause. The thing is, it’s invaded my mind and kidnapped my heart. Following is an article about D.R. Congo. It was published in the New York Times in October this year. You remember October. It was less than 4 weeks ago. I hope you read it. It’s not meant to make you sad and turn away. It’s an unashamed attempt to get you involved. In prayers and you bet, in money. These guys don’t want your sympathy they want your help. This is written about another hospital apart from HEAL Africa. But the story is exactly the story of the HEAL Africa hospital. And the people you seein my photos. Take my word for it. I stood in the victims urine and feces. I touched their macheted limbs. And I played with kids who suffer diseases we fix with one of those pesky little things we call needles. Ladies this is a call to action. In February (14th lunch time) my sister here she is… she is hosting a lunch for Lyn Lusi the head of HEAL Africa. Yep she’s going to be in Melbourne. And I am getting a table together. It’s $55 a head and Lyn will tell you first hand what is happening in Congo. Much of it will be about the treatment of women. I’d love love love to have some Red Bubble chicks at my table. $55 for charity, a great meal and words that will change your life, from one of the rarest people you will ever meet. Please please please come. Anyway to the article. Read it please. Knowledge is power. The New York Times October 2007 BUKAVU, Congo — Denis Mukwege, a Congolese gynecologist, cannot bear to listen to the stories his patients tell him anymore. Every day, 10 new women and girls who have been raped show up at his hospital. Many have been so sadistically attacked from the inside out, butchered by bayonets and assaulted with chunks of wood, that their reproductive and digestive systems are beyond repair. “We don’t know why these rapes are happening, but one thing is clear,” said Dr. Mukwege, who works in South Kivu Province, the epicenter of Congo’s rape epidemic. “They are done to destroy women.” Eastern Congo is going through another one of its convulsions of violence, and this time it seems that women are being systematically attacked on a scale never before seen here. According to the United Nations, 27,000 sexual assaults were reported in 2006 in South Kivu Province alone, and that may be just a fraction of the total number across the country. “The sexual violence in Congo is the worst in the world,” said John Holmes, the United Nations under secretary general for humanitarian affairs. “The sheer numbers, the wholesale brutality, the culture of impunity — it’s appalling.” The days of chaos in Congo were supposed to be over. Last year, this country of 66 million people held a historic election that cost $500 million and was intended to end Congo’s various wars and rebellions and its tradition of epically bad government. But the elections have not unified the country or significantly strengthened the Congolese government’s hand to deal with renegade forces, many of them from outside the country. The justice system and the military still barely function, and United Nations officials say Congolese government troops are among the worst offenders when it comes to rape. Large swaths of the country, especially in the east, remain authority-free zones where civilians are at the mercy of heavily armed groups who have made warfare a livelihood and survive by raiding villages and abducting women for ransom. According to victims, one of the newest groups to emerge is called the Rastas, a mysterious gang of dreadlocked fugitives who live deep in the forest, wear shiny tracksuits and Los Angeles Lakers jerseys and are notorious for burning babies, kidnapping women and literally chopping up anybody who gets in their way. United Nations officials said the so-called Rastas were once part of the Hutu militias who fled Rwanda after committing genocide there in 1994, but now it seems they have split off on their own and specialize in freelance cruelty. Honorata Barinjibanwa, an 18-year-old woman with high cheekbones and downcast eyes, said she was kidnapped from a village that the Rastas raided in April and kept as a sex slave until August. Most of that time she was tied to a tree, and she still has rope marks ringing her delicate neck. The men would untie her for a few hours each day to gang-rape her, she said. “I’m weak, I’m angry, and I don’t know how to restart my life,” she said from Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, where she was taken after her captors freed her. She is also pregnant. While rape has always been a weapon of war, researchers say they fear that Congo’s problem has metastasized into a wider social phenomenon. “It’s gone beyond the conflict,” said Alexandra Bilak, who has studied various armed groups around Bukavu, on the shores of Lake Kivu. She said that the number of women abused and even killed by their husbands seemed to be going up and that brutality toward women had become “almost normal.” Malteser International, a European aid organization that runs health clinics in eastern Congo, estimates that it will treat 8,000 sexual violence cases this year, compared with 6,338 last year. The organization said that in one town, Shabunda, 70 percent of the women reported being sexually brutalized. At Panzi Hospital, where Dr. Mukwege performs as many as six rape-related surgeries a day, bed after bed is filled with women lying on their backs, staring at the ceiling, with colostomy bags hanging next to them because of all the internal damage. “I still have pain and feel chills,” said Kasindi Wabulasa, a patient who was raped in February by five men. The men held an AK-47 rifle to her husband’s chest and made him watch, telling him that if he closed his eyes, they would shoot him. When they were finished, Ms. Wabulasa said, they shot him anyway. In almost all the reported cases, the culprits are described as young men with guns, and in the deceptively beautiful hills here, there is no shortage of them: poorly paid and often mutinous government soldiers; homegrown militias called the Mai-Mai who slick themselves with oil before marching into battle; members of paramilitary groups originally from Uganda and Rwanda who have destabilized this area over the past 10 years in a quest for gold and all the other riches that can be extracted from Congo’s exploited soil. The attacks go on despite the presence of the largest United Nations peacekeeping force in the world, with more than 17,000 troops. Few seem to be spared. Dr. Mukwege said his oldest patient was 75, his youngest 3. “Some of these girls whose insides have been destroyed are so young that they don’t understand what happened to them,” Dr. Mukwege said. “They ask me if they will ever be able to have children, and it’s hard to look into their eyes.” No one — doctors, aid workers, Congolese and Western researchers — can explain exactly why this is happening. “That is the question,” said André Bourque, a Canadian consultant who works with aid groups in eastern Congo. “Sexual violence in Congo reaches a level never reached anywhere else. It is even worse than in Rwanda during the genocide.” Impunity may be a contributing factor, Mr. Bourque added, saying that very few of the culprits are punished. Many Congolese aid workers denied that the problem was cultural and insisted that the widespread rapes were not the product of something ingrained in the way men treated women in Congolese society. “If that were the case, this would have showed up long ago,” said Wilhelmine Ntakebuka, who coordinates a sexual violence program in Bukavu. Instead, she said, the epidemic of rapes seems to have started in the mid-1990s. That coincides with the waves of Hutu militiamen who escaped into Congo’s forests after exterminating 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus during Rwanda’s genocide 13 years ago. Mr. Holmes said that while government troops might have raped thousands of women, the most vicious attacks had been carried out by Hutu militias. “These are people who were involved with the genocide and have been psychologically destroyed by it,” he said. Mr. Bourque called this phenomenon “reversed values” and said it could develop in heavily traumatized areas that had been steeped in conflict for many years, like eastern Congo. This place, one of the greenest, hilliest and most scenic slices of central Africa, continues to reverberate from the aftershocks of the genocide next door. Take the recent fighting near Bukavu between the Congolese Army and Laurent Nkunda, a dissident general who commands a formidable rebel force. Mr. Nkunda is a Congolese Tutsi who has accused the Congolese Army of supporting Hutu militias, which the army denies. Mr. Nkunda says his rebel force is simply protecting Tutsi civilians from being victimized again. But his men may be no better. Willermine Mulihano said she was raped twice — first by Hutu militiamen two years ago and then by Nkunda soldiers in July. Two soldiers held her legs apart, while three others took turns violating her. “When I think about what happened,” she said, “I feel anxious and brokenhearted.” She is also lonely. Her husband divorced her after the first rape, saying she was diseased. In some cases, the attacks are on civilians already caught in the cross-fire between warring groups. In one village near Bukavu where 27 women were raped and 18 civilians killed in May, the attackers left behind a note in broken Swahili telling the villagers that the violence would go on as long as government troops were in the area. The United Nations peacekeepers here seem to be stepping up efforts to protect women. Recently, they initiated what they call “night flashes,” in which three truckloads of peacekeepers drive into the bush and keep their headlights on all night as a signal to both civilians and armed groups that the peacekeepers are there. Sometimes, when morning comes, 3,000 villagers are curled up on the ground around them. But the problem seems bigger than the resources currently devoted to it. Panzi Hospital has 350 beds, and though a new ward is being built specifically for rape victims, the hospital sends women back to their villages before they have fully recovered because it needs space for the never-ending stream of new arrivals. Dr. Mukwege, 52, said he remembered the days when Bukavu was known for its stunning lake views and nearby national parks, like Kahuzi-Biega. “There used to be a lot of gorillas in there,” he said. “But now they’ve been replaced by much more savage beasts.”
Tip 1: / Never set your camera down where someone can get to it. DOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! !http://images-1.redbubble.com/r…
Tip 1: / Never set your camera down where someone can get to it. DOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! Yes I am a Ham / Yes I knew the photo was going to be taken. / Say Cheeezzzzz. My Brother in Law got me good! / Happy Holidays Everyone!!
Sleep is but a distant memory so I decided to look through some of the thousands of photos in my computer. I stumbled across the “phot…
Sleep is but a distant memory so I decided to look through some of the thousands of photos in my computer. I stumbled across the photo shoot that I did with my girls in the October school holidays. I had set up a studio in my loungeroom at home and the girls dressed up and posed for the camera. We had a ball as Axel would keep running into the shot or taking off with the tripod. These are a couple of the images from that day. There are tears streaming down my face as I remember this day with laughter and smiles…
I just wanted to wish everyone the most beautiful Valentine’s day. My heart has been slowly melting these last few weeks … I am falling…
I just wanted to wish everyone the most beautiful Valentine’s day. My heart has been slowly melting these last few weeks … I am falling in love so badly and today is a very special day for me :) I haven’t been this happy in such a long time :) For those of you that feel alone … don’t give up!!! Love is just around the corner and hopefully, like me … if you don’t look so hard for it …. it’ll trip you up and take you by surprise :) :) And then you will feel full again :) Happy Valentine’s Day everyone ….. Love to all :) :) :) VBS
I have been made artist of the week on the portraiture group / “THE WAIST UP” for my image Smile: !http://images-2.redbubble.com/img/a…
I have been made artist of the week on the portraiture group / “THE WAIST UP” for my image Smile: See http://www.redbubble.com/groups/the-waist-up Thanks to group host Larry Varley.
I am hereby officially tendering my resignation as an adult….
I am hereby officially tendering my resignation as an adult. / I have decided I would like to accept the responsibilities of an 8-year-old again. I want to go to Mc Donald’s and think that it’s a four star restaurant. I want to sail sticks across a fresh mud puddle and make ripples with rocks. I want to think M&Ms are better than money because you can eat them. I want to lie under a big oak tree and run a lemonade stand with my friends on a hot summer day. / I want to return to a time when life was simple. When all you knew were colors, multiplication tables, and nursery rhymes,but that didn’t bother you, because you didn’t know what you didn’t know and you didn’t care. All you knew was to be happy because you were blissfully unaware of all the things that should make you worried or upset. I want to think the world is fair. That everyone is honest and good. I want to believe that anything is possible. / I want to be oblivious to the complexities of life and be overly excited by the little things again. I want to live simple again. I don’t want my day to consist of computer crashes, mountains of paperwork, depressing news, how to survive more days in the month than there is money in the bank, doctor bills, gossip, illness, and loss of loved ones. / I want to believe in the power of smiles, hugs, a kind word, truth, justice, peace, dreams, the imagination, mankind, and making angels in the snow. / So…here’s my checkbook and my car keys, my credit cards and all my responsibility. I am officially resigning from adulthood. / And if you want to discuss this further, you’ll have to catch me first, ‘cause, / “Tag! You’re it.” ~Author Unknown
Thanks to the Butterflies, Skippers ,Moth ,& other Winged Insects Group for featuring my image MAKE LOVE NOT WAR featuredhelmutk:...
Thanks to the Butterflies, Skippers ,Moth ,& other Winged Insects Group for featuring my image MAKE LOVE NOT WAR featuredhelmutk / I am delighted and honored to have been featured in such a great Group / PLEASE GO AND CHECK IT OUT helmutk /
I really enjoy getting that email that tells me I have sold something on RedBubble. Not for the money really.. Just that someone likes wh…
I really enjoy getting that email that tells me I have sold something on RedBubble. Not for the money really.. Just that someone likes what I have shared enough to buy a card to give as a gift.. So happy.. Thank you to the person who did this.. Bless you.. / Chuck.. Click Card To Go To Its Page
Just a few more things to smile about….. / my photo Surfin’ Cetaceans...
Just a few more things to smile about….. / my photo Surfin’ Cetaceans was featured in the Dolphins and Whales Group My image of my father on his Harley Wild Hog? was featured in the Days Gone By group; and Emotions / and Timeless were featured in the Feminine Intent Group…. Line of Bast was featured in All Things Ancient Egyptian group / and / Line of Bast III was featured in the Domestic Cats group. This is all a bit overwhelming and I am honoured! Thank you so much to the hosts of these groups for appreciating my work in this way. No need to comment on this journal, I just wanted to give these groups a bit of promo, so please go along and check out what treasures they hold….....
Rrriiiiinnnnggg, rrriiiinnnngg, ‘Hello?’ ‘Hi honey. / This is Daddy. / Is Mommy near the phone?’ *...
Rrriiiiinnnnggg, rrriiiinnnngg, ‘Hello?’ ‘Hi honey. / This is Daddy. / Is Mommy near the phone?’ ‘No, Daddy. / She’s upstairs in the bedroom with Uncle Paul.’ After a brief pause, Daddy says, / ‘But honey, you haven’t got an Uncle Paul.’ ‘Oh yes I do, and he’s upstairs in the room with Mommy, / Right now.’ Brief Pause. / ‘Uh, okay then, this is what I want you to do. / Put the phone down on the table, run upstairs / And knock on the bedroom door and shout to Mommy / That Daddy’s car just pulled into the driveway.’ ‘Okay, Daddy, Just a minute.’ / A few minutes later / The little girl comes back to the phone. ‘I did it, Daddy.’ ‘And what happened, honey?’ * ‘Well, Mommy got all scared, jumped out of bed with no clothes on and ran around screaming. Then she tripped over the rug, hit her head on the dresser / And now she isn’t moving at all!’ ‘Oh my God!!! What about your Uncle Paul?’ ‘He jumped out of the bed with no clothes on, too. He was all scared and he jumped out of the back window / And into the swimming pool. / But I guess he didn’t know that you took out the water / Last week to clean it. He hit the bottom of the pool and I think he’s dead.’ *Long Pause Longer Pause / Even Longer Pause Then Daddy says, ‘Swimming pool? ........... Is this 486-5731?’ *No, I think you have the wrong number….....
A REDNECK LOVE POEM SUSIE LEE DONE FELL IN LOVE, / SHE PLANNED TO MARRY JOE. / SHE WAS SO HAPPY ‘BOUT IT ALL, / SHE TOLD HER PAPPY SO…
A REDNECK LOVE POEM SUSIE LEE DONE FELL IN LOVE, / SHE PLANNED TO MARRY JOE. / SHE WAS SO HAPPY ‘BOUT IT ALL, / SHE TOLD HER PAPPY SO. PAPPY TOLD HER, SUSIE GAL, / YOU’LL HAVE TO FIND ANOTHER. / I’D JUST AS SOON YO’ MA DON’T KNOW, / BUT JOE IS YO’ HALF BROTHER. SO SUSIE PUT ASIDE HER JOE / AND PLANNED TO MARRY WILL. / BUT AFTER TELLING PAPPY THIS, / HE SAID, ‘THERE’S TROUBLE STILL.’ YOU CAN’T MARRY WILL, MY GAL, / AND PLEASE DON’T TELL YO’ MOTHER. / BUT WILL AND JOE, AND SEVERAL MO’ / I KNOW IS YO’ H ALF BROTHER. BUT MAMA KNEW AND SAID, MY CHILD, / JUST DO WHAT MAKES YO’ HAPPY. / MARRY WILL OR MARRY JOE; / YOU AIN’T NO KIN TO PAPPY. *** / (Kinda brings a tear to yer eye, don’t it?)
I see so many interesting People in my travels I thought I would share a few candid faces with you they made me smile I hope they make yo…
I see so many interesting People in my travels I thought I would share a few candid faces with you they made me smile I hope they make you smile to. / 1. / / 2. / / 3 / / 4. / / 5. / / 6. / / 7. / / 8. / / 9. / / 10. / / 11. / / 12. / / 13. / / 14. / / 15. / / 16. / / 17. / / 18. / / 19. / / 20. / / 21. / / 22. / / 23. /
Just noticed that I passed 100,000 views some time ago, blows me away !!! Just a quick thank you to all of you that constantly commen…
Just noticed that I passed 100,000 views some time ago, blows me away !!! Just a quick thank you to all of you that constantly comment, fav, and buy my work. Especially to those of you who make me laugh and offer support and friendship. Am humbled. / Hugsss / Varinia xx
Yesterday I had the absolute pleasure in attending the monthly Rat Rhymes meet up at the Mallow Hotel in Ballarat for an afternoon of f…
Yesterday I had the absolute pleasure in attending the monthly Rat Rhymes meet up at the Mallow Hotel in Ballarat for an afternoon of fun, poetry and frivolity….oh and of course a few drinks! Raymondoantonio / Sandra22 / and Liz Kelly (who may be making her debut on Redbubble soon) held a captive audience with their blend of amazingly moving, funny, sad, emotional, hilarious, serious, erotic poetry for hours and most certainly is a must see/do experience if you ever get the chance and can make it for an afternoon. I managed to capture a few action shots in between drinks, chit chat and lots of fun…........ The Wonderful Raymondo warms up for another bout of emotional rescue / The Beautiful Sandra22 waxes lyrical to a captivated audience. This was the first time Sandra and I had finally caught up and she is such a gorgeous woman, was so lovely to meet you Sandra!! xx / Lovely Liz Kelly shares her poetry from her travels all over the globe for over twenty years. We all encouraged Liz to join us in RB so fingers crossed that we can all enjoy her wonderful words soon!! / To be or Not to Be…....... / Ray is just amazing, and I swear it’s just like an afternoon at the Opera!! / Sayonara Raymondo, until we meet again!! / So yeah, it was a top afternoon, lots of lovely people there to enjoy the wonderful words of these amazing poets and writers…....and a really great chance to catch up with other members of RB…..... Hope to see you there sometime soon!! Trace / :))
Got a mention in this week’s Gold Coast Sun … / ...
Got a mention in this week’s Gold Coast Sun … / A slight correction … there’s less than 20 prints on display at Centro Nerang shopping centre, not 1200 (the larger figure could be the total number of entries nationwide). Voting can be done online
/ As a lot of you know, there is a forum he…
/ As a lot of you know, there is a forum here at RB to make Front Page suggestions – Choose the Red Bubble Home Page is basically a personal reference journal for me which i’ll continually add to along the way. / Some Useful Links Rules, Guidelines & Tips on Submitting Sanne’s Red Bubble Homepage Blog – for an updated daily record of Red Bubble Home Page features Aglaia’s Calendar Code – the code for squaring off calendars for HP submission on this page of the forum Link to the HP Suggestion Forum Link to the HP Comment & Chat Forum / and totally unrelated – but i keep getting asked for the link How to Add a Slideshow with your Images Dave Pearson’s Better Formatting Hack Edit a Work from Public View Hack Add a Share Button ...just so i can keep track of what and who I’ve suggested (in order not to double up!) i’ll throw my suggestions in here… they should be all hopefully be clickable links / Comments @Chat Forum Here Way Too Cute! / 23/9/09 – Pg 310 Extra / Ooops! / 23/9/09 – Pg 310 Shoes and Socks / 22/9/09 – Pg 309 / / Extras Stars and Stripes / 21/9/09 – Page 308 Extras / The Smiling Assassin / 21/9/09 – Pg. 307 Bounce – my assignment! / 21/9/09 – Pg.306 Of Clowns and Jellies / 20/9/09 – Pg.305 Loss / 20/9/09 – Page 301 / Minimalism / 19/9/09 Pg 299 / Front Page Selection 20/9/09 Beautiful Behinds! / 18/9/09 – Page 290 Extras / ...and wasn’t that little search educational!!! T...and Toast / 18/9/09 – Page 288 Extras / Hugs! / Revised 16/9/09 – Page 279 These are All Calendars / 16/9/09 – Page 276 Extras / Geeks & Nerds / 15/9/09 – Pg 271 and 17/10/09 – Pg 328 / Extras / Elves / 15/9/09 – Pg 269 Extras / Mirror Mirror / 15/9/09 – Pg 266 Cubism / 15/9/09 – Pg 265 Balance / 14/9/09 Extras Global Warming / 14/9/09 – Pg 263 Extras Chalk and Cheese / ...and viva la difference!!!! 14/9/09 – Pg 263 Niagara Falls and Vikings ♥ / random monday madness / 14/9/09 – Pg 263 Spheres / 14/9/09 – Pg 262 Extra / Surrealism / 13/9/09 – Pg 260 Extras / Impressionism / 13/9/09 – Pg 259 Extras / Sightless – as requested Ma’am / 13/9/09 and Revised 16/9/09 – Pgs 259 and 274 Extras / / (i keep seeing michael jackson’s face in the side of that bandage which is creeping me out a little!!!) From Grapes to Wine / 13/9/09 – Pg 259 and again 11/10/09 Pg 325 Extras Music Notes / 13/9/09 – Pg 259 Extras / Barcodes / 13/9/09 – Pg 259 Extra / Summer! / 13/9/09 – Pg 258 Extras / Upside Down / 13/9/09 – Pg 258 Extras / ...and finally (for today at least) shameless pimping of the amazing talent in my three groups / Frogs-Giraffes-Elephants / 13/9/09 – Pg 258 Take a Bow! / 12/9/09 – Pg 258 Extras / Say Ahhhh / 11/9/09 – Pg 258 Extras / Hula Hoops / A Couple of Groovy Spares! / Hopscotch! / Pg 257 / Extra / Pinstripes! / pg257 A couple of eye-popping spares! !http://
Hi folks, / !http://images-3.redbubble.net/img/clothing/backgroundcolor:fafafa/bodycolor:brown/size:large/style:womens/view:preview/192581…
Hi folks, / http://www.redbubble.com/people/karin/t-shirts/1925817-2-smile-baby-retro-tee / Smile Baby – Retro Tee / Some good stuff has been happening to me from sharing my design on Twitter….. it seems that after having shared (a few months ago) with my own “Share Button” link on twitter, my design Smile Baby – Retro Tee was featured on PetaPixel yesterday in their post 21 Awesome T-Shirts for Photographers resulting in a sale overnight and another one this morning….thanx to the scouts that found my design on Twitter and submitted it…i had no idea my work had been found and share, i wasn’t notified, but I’m very happy all the same! Cheers. / / Smile Baby Tee
I was sent this poem author unkown …...... a very emotional and poignant mail I hope you have the time to read this! —-—--...
I was sent this poem author unkown …...... a very emotional and poignant mail I hope you have the time to read this! —-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-——- / Daddy’s Poem Her hair was up in a pony tail, / Her favorite dress tied with a bow. / Today was Daddy’s Day at school, / And she couldn’t wait to go. But her mommy tried to tell her, / That she probably should stay home. / Why the kids might not understand, / If she went to school alone.. But she was not afraid; / She knew just what to say. / What to tell her classmates / Of why he wasn’t there today. But still her mother worried, / For her to face this day alone. / And that was why once again, / She tried to keep her daughter home. But the little girl went to school / Eager to tell them all. / About a dad she never sees / A dad who never calls. There were daddies along the wall in back, For / everyone to meet. / Children squirming impatiently, / Anxious in their seats One by one the teacher called / A student from the class. / To introduce their daddy, / As seconds slowly passed. At last the teacher called her name, / Every child turned to stare. / Each of them was searching, / A man who wasn’t there. ‘Where’s her daddy at?’ / She heard a boy call out. / ‘She probably doesn’t have one,’ / Another student dared to shout. And from somewhere near the back, / She heard a daddy say, / ‘Looks like another deadbeat dad, / Too busy to waste his day.’ The words did not offend her, / As she smiled up at her Mom. / And looked back at her teacher, / Who told her to go on. / And with hands behind her back, / Slowly she began to speak. / And out from the mouth of a child, / Came words incredibly unique. ‘My Daddy couldn’t be here, / Because he lives so far away. / But I know he wishes he could be, / Since this is such a special day. And though you cannot meet him, / I wanted you to know. / All about my daddy, / And how much he loves me so. He loved to tell me stories / He taught me to ride my bike. / He surprised me with pink roses, / And taught me to fly a kite. We used to share fudge sundaes, / And ice cream in a cone. / And though you cannot see him. / I’m not standing here alone. ‘Cause my daddy’s al ways with me, / Even though we are apart / I know because he told me, / He’ll forever be in my heart’ / With that, her little hand reached up, / And lay across her chest. / Feeling her own heartbeat, / Beneath her favorite dress. And from somewhere here in the crowd of dads, / Her mother stood in tears. / Proudly watching her daughter, / Who was wise beyond her years. For she stood up for the love / Of a man not in her life. / Doing what was best for her, / Doing what was right. And when she dropped her hand back down, / Staring straight into the crowd. / She finished with a voice so soft, / But its message clear and loud. ‘I love my daddy very much, / he’s my shining star. / And if he could, he’d be here, / But heaven’s just too far. You see he is a Brittish soldier / And died just this past year / When a roadside bomb hit his convoy / And taught Britians to fear. / But sometimes when I close my eyes, / it’s like he never went away.’ / And then she closed her eyes, / And saw him there that day. And to her mothers amazement, / She witnessed with surprise. / A room full of daddies and children, / All starting to close their eyes. Who knows what they saw before them, / Who knows what they felt inside. / Perhaps for merely a second, / They saw him at her side. ‘I know you’re with me Daddy,’ / To the silence she called out. / And what happened next made believers, / Of those once filled with doubt. Not one in that room could explain it, / For each of their eyes had been closed. / But there on the desk beside her, / Was a fragrant long-stemmed rose. And a child was blessed, if only for a moment, / By the love of her shining star. / And given the gift of believing, / That heaven is never too far.
It’s so wonderful when you get the unexpected. Three sales in one week that’s Awesome. I don’t know who purchased them, but I like to …
It’s so wonderful when you get the unexpected. Three sales in one week that’s Awesome. I don’t know who purchased them, but I like to say a great BIG thank you and I do hope that you enjoy these works. First Sale. A matted print of Ohhhhhh Flower of Scotland Second and Third Sales. / Title A Light Unto My Path. A poster and an greetings card. / / Thank you whomsoever you are, sooooooo much, I’m overjoyed. Regards, Don.
Ok, so I’ being a bit random but I wanted to share some more tips with my wonderful friends who share so much with me and inspire me so m…
Ok, so I’ being a bit random but I wanted to share some more tips with my wonderful friends who share so much with me and inspire me so much. Has anyone noticed how rarely the old masters painted people smiling with big toothy grins? Well, I was studying Chris Saper’s book and she is a great portrait painter. I learned from her that she was taught that it is best to avoid big toothy grins but…if a client really wanted a smiling portrait her tip was to remember to stick with the temperature rules of light source and shadow (if the light source is cool in temperature then the shadow will be warm and vice versa). Also, the best tip I learned from her and which I apply is to keep the teeth SUBTLE and not overemphasized. Making the teeth too sharp in focus is not flattering and takes away from the focus on the face. The smile and the teeth should compliment the overall features and to do that they must be subtle and soft. I believe eyes are the most important element of any portrait. This is why my numerous efforts to hone my skills at bringing life, soul and depth of emotion into my subjects eyes has become so obvious and is one of the most common compliments I receive. I consider this to be my most treasured gift that I receive from others who notice my techniques. So, if the teeth were overemphasized it would take away considerably from the focus of the eyes which is where the viewer connects with the heart of the painting. I think these following works where I have worked on this technique show the progression of my different attempts at mastering this skill. I feel that my daughter Jaymi’s painting with her lovely gentle smile really shows a much more mastered technique than many precious paintings. I hope this is helpful to others! And remember, there’s no substitute for practice! These skills take time, experimentation and lots of practice :o) / / / / / /
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