KARA VILLAGE, ETHIOPIA

My Extended Families...the Kara

February 16, 2011...

The reason I posted the previous video about the Kara tribe in the Omo Region of Southern Ethiopia... is because I saw another Kara video on a friend's blog, borrowed from YouTube.  It was NOT what these people are truly like...it only showed beautiful photos of what an inventive photographer dreamed up for them. They're world renown for their intricate  and very often magnificent body and face painting... something they do as is their tradition...NOT only for tourists! They are very wonderful people...warm, curious, fun-loving...who are exposed to few tourists. As this changes...IF this changes... (for they're a vanishing tribe in a very primitive area,) I imagine they'll do whatever it takes to become more well known...like having a photographer pose them in ways that are unfamiliar and atypical of WHO THEY ARE. I have two adopted families within THIS Kara tribe...they've been my extended family for 8 years now. I'd like to share their photos with you...

First, the family of my friend, Walla...her husband and 4 children (one of them named ABBY...after me!!)

This is Walla with Abby

Walla's husband, Dido with their oldest, son Gallipo...holding my "flat" grandchildren...Flat Lilly and Flat Hunter who travel with me everywhere!

Now, Buno and her family...

We speak to each other through an interpreter, with pantomime...and with our hearts.

  

Thanks for checking in...I hope this post was of some interest to you. Please come back soon...  XOX,  abbyj

Ethiopia - The Karo village

HOPE

HOPE is the word... 

February 15, 2011

One of my online art groups, PAPER TRADERS, has announced its 2nd word  for our WORD PROMPT JOURNAL...it's HOPE. Our task was to create a journal page using stencils as part of the finished piece. I used 5 different stencils as part of the background. This is a mixed media piece. You can see other entries here. (Our 1st word was LOVE!)


Thanks for stopping by...
XOX, abbyj

CHALLENGING MONDAY

ART FOR MONDAY

February 14, 2011... Happy Valentine's Day

Today, I've answered challenges from two  of my favorite "Monday" blogs. I love doing these challenges as it encourages me to KEEP "making art." Hope you enjoy these latest entries...

THINK MONDAY-THINK ATC (an ATC, for the uninitiated, is an Artist Trading Card...like a baseball card) issued its weekly challenge...a music-based theme, specifically about CLEFS. I added hearts because, well, it's Valentine's Day/Week AND... I LOVE MUSIC!!! You can see other entries here

The theme for COLLAGE OBSESSION'S art this week is SPRING. We were given two elements that we had to include in the finished piece. Stop by and visit COLLAGE OBSESSION here

Please let me know what you think...and do stop by again. I look forward to your visits!

XOX, abbyj

PLAYING HARD...

VALENTINE'S DAY & BEYOND 

February 12, 2011

With Valentine's Day around the corner, several of the art blog sites I regularly visit have issued challenges...not only for Valentine's Day but looking past the day to further inspirations.  Answering the calls of these blogs, I've posted the resulting art I've done over the last couple of days... 

For 4X4 FRIDAY... http://4x4friday.blogspot.com/

For SUNDAY POSTCARD ART...http://sundaypostcardart.wordpress.com/

  (I know that traditionally, Valentine's Day is for romantic loved ones, but I've enlarged the circle of love and included our dear daughter, Michelle!)

FOR ART CREATIONS FRIDAY...http://artcreationsfriday.blogspot.com/

 And here's one more...this one is based on a photo I took for a photo art journal online art group. The task was to illustrate a "word of intention" for the coming year. My word...PATIENCE!

FOR PHOTO ART JOURNALS...http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/photoartjournals/

Thanks for looking at my art and photography... such fun to play and answer challenges put forth by other artists. It's wonderful to see how everyone interprets the challenges...all different, all unique!

Please stop by again...HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!     XOX, abbyj

  

IN THE MIDDLE OF OUR WINTER...

SOMEWHERE, IT'S SPRING! 
 

February 9, 2011...SILENT WEDNESDAY

 XOX, abbyj

LOVE in a POCKET

CARRY ME WITH YOU...

February 7, 2011

The first of our WORD PROMPT CHALLENGES in my online art group, PAPER TRADERS,   is LOVE... with Valentine's Day  fast approaching. I used one of a bazillion photos I've taken of our grandson, Hunter (then 2...now 8) for the piece. The sentiment is that I wish he'd carry me (us...actually, my husband and me) in his pocket so that we would always be close to him. Now, we have a granddaughter we'd like to be close to as well...Lilly, who's 6. Problem is, her clothes don't have many pockets. Perhaps we can be a necklace for the little lady...
                        HERE'S HUNTER...

...and here's PAPER TRADERS ART BLOG link if you'd like to take a look at it: 

 http://papertraders-art.blogspot.com/search/label/Home

Looking forward to seeing you next time...

XOX, abbyj 

AN ADULT SNOW ANGEL

The snow continues to fall...sometimes several inches, sometimes just a dusting. My friend Trudi DARED me to brave the elements and make a snow angel. When was the last time YOU did that? I really can't remember when I made my last impression in the snow, other than footprints. I've been with my grandchildren when THEY happily make snow angels, but they're 8 and 6 years old!!  Of course, I did it because Trudi's a dear friend. Too, I made it count as part of my ONE HUNDRED THEMES CHALLENGE issued by the always fun online challenge blog, DIGITAL WHISPER

 (http://digital-whisper.blogspot.com )

Be sure to check it out!

XOX, abbyj

SILENT WEDNESDAY

MY FIRST SILENT WEDNESDAY

FEBRUARY 2, 2011

SNOW FEAST

A DIFFERENT KIND OF FEAST...

FEBRUARY 1st, 2011

Tiffany said...  "I live in Southern California, so I have to drive to see snow. LOL. Interestingly enough, I have been fantasizing about eating the perfect snowball. I'm obsessed with it! I haven't done it since I was young. Please eat some for me."

 As per Tiffany's request, I went out to the front of our home this morning, set up my point-and-shoot to "self-timer," made a BIG clump of snow (not exactly a perfect snowball, Tiff...sorry...) and took a picture! Eating snow wasn't nearly as much fun as it was when I was a kid! This time, I wasn't going against my Mama's admonishing... NOT to eat the snow!! What fun is eating snow if you can't SNEAK a taste??? In any case, TIFFANY, THIS IS FOR YOU and everyone else who fantasizes abut eating snow!! Enjoy!  XOX, abbyj 

FAMILY, SNOW & SPEECH

ALL IN A DAY'S WORK...

January 30th, 2011

My own take on movie poster

It takes a great deal for me to RAVE about a movie...this one's the best I've seen in a very long time. Based on fact, it tells of the man who became KING George VI, the father of Queen Elizabeth II.  After his brother abdicated the throne, George ("Bertie") reluctantly took his place. Plagued by a life-long stuttering speech defect and considered unfit to be king, Bertie engaged the help of a very unorthodox speech therapist named Lionel Logue. Through a set of unexpected techniques and as a result of an unlikely friendship, Bertie was able to find his voice and boldly lead the country through the challenging times of war.

A family that shovels together... in New York City**

Here are the FAMILY and SNOW parts of this posting...from a photo I took last weekend in New York City . I grew up in the Big City and I haven't  seen  SO MUCH SNOW  since I was very little ... a looooong time ago! We're used to managing copious amounts of snow here in Central New York...not so in NYC. It was difficult navigating the streets and roads because multiple feet of snow were piled along BOTH sides of the roads..resulting in very narrow passageways. Clearly, the city was overwhelmed by the sheer VOLUME of the successive snowfalls...there was no place to put it all. There were MANY cars buried, street after street. The plows came, but  only added to the frozen cubicles in which cars were confined. Fortunately, city residents can travel by subway when all other options are unavailable. SNOW...the Eskimos have 52 names for snow because it's so important to them. Seems as though, these days, this is a pretty important word to New Yorkers as well!

View of Manhattan Bridge along fairly clear street

 "The first fall of snow is not only an event, it's a magical event. You go to bed in one kind of world and wake up in another, quite different. If this is not enchantment, then WHERE is it to be found?" J.B.Priestley

XOX, Abbyj

** This piece, FAMILY, was done for a challenge blog...
         www.collageobsessionchallenge.blogspot.com
                                               Check it out!
 

ADMITTED LOVE AFFAIR...

January 20, 2011

THE ROMANCE of TRAINS

OK, I admit it! I've been having a love affair with trains for most of my life.  As a child, I used to ride the subways of New York City first with my Nana, occasionally with my Mom and eventually alone. At this stage of my life, I've journeyed on trains all over the world and STILL find it magical, curious, romantic....even nostalgic. It's  fascinating...even hypnotizing to travel BEHIND the scenes of cities and towns, seeing what's normally invisible to conventional travelers. Trains have often been  a source of inspiration for my art...freight trains, circus trains, the hobos who "ride the rails" ...the motion of the train as tons of steel glide along...the thrill of the horn...

A couple of pages I did from an art journal about trains with an added trading- card- sized  locomotive painting by dear cyber friend, NICK ROMAINE. He  passed away a couple of months ago... an extraordinary artist! Here are two more of his trains... RIP dear Nick.

A boxcar and locomotive added to my art journal about the Romance of Trains... thanks Nick!

ALL ABOARD...'til the next. Thanks for riding with me...please let me know you were here!   XOX,  abbyj

American Tradition Shattered by a Bullet

January 14, 2011

Angels are crying...

 A gunman open fired...at an event that has been at the core of American democracy, indeed, one of our inalienable, first amendment rights!   Today, it's harder for us to recognize telltale warning signs: instead of writings in a private diary or dispatching a threatening note, we need to monitor the internet for a digital trail...comments on a personal blog...or facebook, bringing forth some kind of digital history. Even if we chanced upon the shooter's digital history while surfing the internet, would we have taken it seriously?  

What no one seems willing to admit...at least what I see... is that the caustic, venomous, sharp-tongued rhetoric that we (and our children) hear and see every day makes it clear that this is NOT the NICE United States that we older types grew up in. Today, more than ever, we're people of action...people who want to solve the problem...finish the job! I think that heinous acts are an unfortunate consequence of a free society and there's no ABSOLUTE way to prevent these crimes from being committed. 

Perhaps, as President Obama suggested, we all need to strive to be better people in our private lives...to our families, our friends, our neighbors, parents, co-workers... and some GUN CONTROL wouldn't hurt!!!   xox Abbyj 

 

IF I COULD DO ANYTHING AND NOT FAIL...

                 I WOULD...if I could! 

January 7, 2011

"We do not succeed in changing things according to our desire, but gradually, our desire changes."
      Marcel Proust 

The start of a New Year always generates new goals, hopes and wishes, whether formally noted or just held in our hearts. But, what if you were GUARANTEED success in whatever you attempted? What would you choose to do? Which dream would you pursue? What secret goal would you conquer? I've thought about it...I wish you'd think about it as well and LET ME KNOW in the blog's COMMENT section. Here are my thoughts on the subject... and by the way, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

The gift of WHITE MAGIC, wand and all, is something I'd love to possess...for all the lofty reasons you'd expect...to right the wrongs of this world..."peace on earth...good will towards "men" (and, of course, women,)  to eradicate present and future catastrophic illnesses and to heal Mother Earth for future generations...not too much to accomplish with that guarantee of success...

I'd love to create a universal, global language so that we may speak freely and easily with friends all over the world...while preserving all our traditional,  individual languages

 What would YOU do if guaranteed that you'd have a successful outcome?    

xox, Abbyj