Brownstones to Red Dirt

I did this little painting for a charity auction that is part of a great project called "Brownstones to Red Dirt". Several people at Blue Sky created this project connecting kids from Brooklyn and Sierra Leone, and have made a documentary about it. Their website is: www.brownstonestoreddirt.com, and explains things more in-depth. As part of the project, they have asked a variety of artists to create a piece of art on a small wooden postcard which will then be auctioned off. They have created a blog where they are posting the artists' submissions: btorpostcards.blogspot.com. I'm a little chagrined that my piece has much less in common thematically with the subject matter than the other pieces, but it's always good fun to paint a lady with leaves in her hair. And while we're into full disclosure, the brush I used was on its last leg and quite ratty, so hold it back and squint for a slightly better experience...

This is a little sketch I did for Seeing the Everyday magazine (www.seeingtheeveryday.com). I finished it a few weeks ago, but have just posted this revised version from the initial pass I had up for awhile. The changes were minor but I think strengthened the piece. I was reminded again of just how vital good photo reference is to work from. This had to be highly stylized as a result of poor reference, and the results, while ok to go out the door, weren't as I would have hoped. Sure, blame it on the reference:)...