This is a young lady from Mozambique.

I started the initial sketch for a “homework” assignment where I was to paint the entire painting in grayscale, to later add the color as many layers of transparent glazes. This is called a Grisaille painting.

Instead tonight as I prepared to begin the painting I had this impromptu curious thought about using water-soluble ink pencils. I’ve only worked minimally with them in the past and never on canvas – just paper -  and this is a 24″ x 30″ canvas! I drew with the pencils and then used a damp brush to blend it out. It was quite interesting! I see other possibilities opening up. I have plenty still to do but it is 4:45 am and I need to sleep. I hope to post a finished picture sometime soon.

My thoughts on this are to somehow use it to raise awareness of a great prayer need regarding statistics I found for the city of Beira, Mozambique. (This is the main city of an area I will be going to next. ) It was reported that the HIV infection rate there is 35% – twice the national average. One “sex worker” they interviewed said that she was aware of the risk of HIV infection but got US$4.00 for sex with a condom but could get US$10.00 for sex without. Due to financial need she was willing to risk her own life, but really many other lives as well. The problem is so big but nothing is too big for You, God. Lord Jesus please reveal your heart and solution to those held in this type of bondage.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 14th, 2009 at 5:06 am and is filed under Artwork, Thoughts & Communications . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.