This is a self-portrait of the artist at 18! Home life was hard so the week after high  school graduation I bought a car, got a driver’s license, bought a puppy and moved in to my own apartment.  It was one full week!

A wonderful opportunity has opened up for me to partner with World Vision*.

When I was in California recently I attended a bible/book study where we read The Hole In Our Gospel by Richard Sterns, President of World Vision. The book was very good and extremely thought provoking. However, we all felt overwhelmed as we read about how the greater percentage of people living on Planet Earth are perishing daily due to lack of food, medicine and access to clean water.

We all wondered, “What can I do!? I’m just one person…” It turns out that Chris and I have been long time supporters of World Vision by “adopting” two children. Letty lives in Costa Rica and Vazgen lives in Armenia. We’ve sponsored these children for a number of years and I felt pretty good about that. But the nagging question remained, “Can I do more?” In the end my take-away from the book study was this: Each of us should do what each of us can do. For one, that may mean sponsoring a child and for another a commitment to pray regularly for the ministry and in my case, I could do all those things and one more…

Then the epiphany came to me! I can paint! I can paint captivating images such as the one above, entitled Haunted By Hunger. I can paint the paintings and they (World Vision) can sell the prints and all the proceeds could go to the ministry!

I contacted the senior editor of their quarterly magazine and proposed my idea. Apparently this set off a firestorm of excitement among the WV staffers. They loved the idea and were very appreciative of the offer. We are now working out the logistics with WV’s legal department. I’m so excited!!! I can’t wait to paint more!

They are planning on featuring me in the Fall or Winter issue of the magazine. You can contact them and get on their mailing list. Who knows, maybe you might like to sponsor a child. There are so many beautiful children out there that are thrilled to receive food, water, clothes, shelter and education; all because someone was willing to give $30 a month to care for a child in need. The letters of gratitude we’ve received from “our kids” and their families are both heartwarming and humbling.

So that’s the story behind the haunting image of the little girl from Kenya.

Thank you Lord for the gift of art. May it be given to many in return and may you receive all the glory, honor and praise you’re due!!!

* World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice. Motivated by our faith in Jesus Christ, World Vision serves alongside the poor and oppressed as a demonstration of God’s unconditional love for all people. World Vision serves all people, regardless of religion, race, ethnicity, or gender.

This painting is of my Beautiful daughter, Bekah at one year old. She still approaches life with enthusiastic joy. Gotta love my Bekah Boo!

As an artist, painting dogs and cats with their owners is a love of mine. I also enjoy owners who unravel their framed art to reveal a painted portrait of their beloved companions, like dogs, cats, horses, birds —even rats and guinea pigs. (But not all in the same painting!)

The bond between human and animal is special, and I find that in the loyal eyes of a pet is a personality (or an animality!) waiting to be captured on canvas –this is what this dog artist or cat artist enjoys most about painting.

I like to paint in pastels. Pastels have been known to outlast traditional oil paints in vibrancy and color sustainability. Plus after a couple generations oil paintings begin to crack, where pastels do not. However, a pastel painting must be put behind glass.

This will help preserve a pet painting or a dog portrait so that it can be handed down to many generations.