6. From big city to small town life...

January 13, 2007

For the rest of this month I'll spend the week in Adeiso (a small town an hour Northeast of of Accra) and come back to Osu on the weekends. And there is NO internet in Adeiso. So my blogings will now have to be crammed into one sitting--so first I'll post the new art, then the pictures. I didn't make much art during the week because I started working with the kids--hopefully next week I'll work it into my schedule better! (In my new schedule I wake up at 6:30 am to the roosters in the backyard coop, and go to bed at 10:00 after watching the outragously-campy-Spanish soap opera "The Gardener's Daughter" with Gifty)

This first drawing is what Accra sounds like. In my head. Voices, vehicles, animals, and the sounds of people all living their lives outside all just blend together in one loud complex composition. Kelvin really likes it! The non-English words are in Tri, the local dialect. I'm making an effort to learn it...

I've finished another book I brought, (I need more!) and like I normally do with non-fiction books I enjoy I wrote the main points out for myself for future reference. (yes....D-O-R-K) This was recommended by Juliet, called "Party of One: A Loner's Manifesto." It's been interesting reading it here in such a social culture...really got my gears turning. Well, you can read the points here if you wish...

This is a sketch I did of Patrick, the son of the family I am living with in Adeiso. He is 9 years old and in my primary class that I teach in the mornings--he and I have become fast friends! (The other night we were doing puzzsles and listening to my ipod together, singing "Yellow Submarine"...and he surprisingly likes the Decemberists...go figure!) It doesn't quite capture him because he is ALWAYS smiling, unlike this sketch here. But he was constantly moving, so he made for a challenging model!

Out in the quiet of Adeiso, my mind doesn't chatter like it does in Accra, overstimulated and unresting. It's quiet, taking in every tree, every animal. Relishing the simplicity of life...it makes my heart smile to itself, enjoying just being present. So how to draw such a quite internal smile? I just made the paper smile.