Don't Mess with the King!

This is what is known as a King Cheetah and only a handful of them still exist in the wild. At the De Wildt Cheetah Center in Northwest Province, South Africa, they have quite a few and use them as educational animals. It is an amazing center and they are doing amazing things with Cheetah preservation and education. Their website is www.Dewildt.org.za . It is worth a look and worth a donation too!

The Dining Area

Every night we would all gather here to have a cocktail and share the stories of the day with the other guests. One thing we could not complain about was the food! We were so well fed it was obscene. Three times a day with a buffet 20 feet long. Good thing calories don't count on vacation...

The Chariot

Here is the open vehicle that took us out several times a day. It is ideal for photographing from and our drivers were madmen! Not the most comfortable vehicle in the world, but fun! We only got a flat once...

These are the gardens and the pool just outside our room. Even the swimming pool has a beautiful view! Did we swim? Heck no, remember, it is the dead of winter there this time of year.

Our Lodge

This is our room at the Game Lodge at Hluhluwe. We were at the forest level so every morning we had vervet monkeys and Nyala on our porch. We would sit on the front porch here at night and hear the sounds of the evening. One night, we even heard the lions at the nieghboring park.

We are back home!

We did it! To the wilds of Africa and back home again. What an amazing trip this was. We went from Hluhluwe to Johanesburg to Pilanesburg and back again. The animals were too numerous to count, and the people were just amazing. I took over 5000 photos while I was there, so give me a couple of days to sort through them and I will post some of the best here soon. It is good to be home, but I am missing Africa already.

Meet Zoe

This is our corgi, Zoe. I thought I would introduce you to her as she has occupied my whole morning. A storm moved in early this morning and thunder terrifies her. So between being hidden under the bed or pinned to my side, she gets alot of attention during our summer storms. She is a year and a half and my constant companion. She is the smartest dog I have ever owned, so I always have to keep two steps ahead of her. We have two other dogs, Loki and Gretzki, who I will introduce to you another day.

Paco Young

We hope,as artists, that we can make an impression on the world and leave a mark. Paco has done that, and continues to do so. Paco was diagnosed last year with leukemia and when the art world heard about it, we held our breath collectively. After a complicated transplant surgery, he is doing extremely well now and you can check on him through a wonderful website www.pacofriendsforlife.com or see his wonderful paintings at http://www.pacoyoung.com. He is an extraordinary artist and an amazing person. I hope that you will take a moment to check out his websites and make a donation to the charities supporting the leukemia effort.

7-1-05

"Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them." This is a quote from one my favorite stories, The Little Prince. As artists, we are asked often, "Why did you paint that?" There is no way to answer that question. It is an image that inspires us, a fleeting thought, sometimes even a dream. This is a painting I did from a photo I took at a roundup in North Dakota. This little guy, a corgi, got too tired to walk back and hitched a ride with mom and her horse. Now the fact that I have corgi's might have a little something to do in my wanting to paint this, but the photo appealed to me and I couldn't wait to finish it! It was also the first painting I sold at my next show...funny how that happens, hmmm? We are asked alot of questions at shows, among the most common...how long did it take you to paint that? How do you answer that question? I just say, "a lifetime and 20 hours." Every moment you study to paint, look at a sunset, break down the colors in the shadows of a cottonwood...you are working on your next painting. So it is almost impossible to answer that question. Trust us that whether it took us 2 years or 2 hours, if you like it...it is worth every penny. For example, I have a painting that I have been working on for three years, I don't know if it will ever be finished. One of my most popular paintings to date only took me about 5 hours to paint. How can that be possible? If you figure it out, please let me know!