amokarts

Saturday September 5 to Sunday September 13 Disaster Relief, a mural 4NOLA and a whole lot of pigs

Well as it turns out my mural sketch was not appropriate for what the folks at the St. Bernard Project were looking for. That's to be expected on the first round, so the next round of sketches began. We decided to go with happy people working on a construction site. It started by sketching some folks building painting and other such things. Sunday was a travel day and I completed numerous more sketches on the plane. The evening held a little more sketching as well as our orientation for what to expect out of our disaster relief experience. Monday brought our orientation for the St. Bernard Project and it was there that the final thought came to be realized. They have a new program called 4NOLA and when I saw the logo for that project, I had the final step: Instead of all my happy workers working on a house they were going to be building the 4NOLA logo. That new design was the winner. We spent the day working on the house of a lovely woman named Miss Deola and in the evening I did the sketch.

Tuesday brought the first day of painting. In the morning the staff at the St. Bernard Project and I hung the plywood ground I would be painting, I went and bought the paint at the nearby Home Depot, rolled a coat of primer on and started to sketch. I will be posting a video of the process such as it is (My camera quit through the best part of the process). Tuesday evening after working on the mural, I received an email saying that one of my Swine Flu projects is in the final stages of approval, which pretty much programmed the rest of my sketching for the week, drawing pigs, lots and lots of pigs.

Wednesday brought the completion of the mural which I must say came out quite nicely. Then I drew a few sheep and more pigs. Thursday and friday returned me to the construction site and more pigs and sheep.

Saturday was unusual but great. In the morning I composed my thoughts on the week into a coherent message for Sunday. I booked a late afternoon flight and most of the others went out early so I had nothing to do. Fortunately my new friend David Young was there for the month and he offered to take me to the French Quarter to see the art galleries. They were something to behold and I was very blessed. I came away from this trip more determined than ever to not just be more creative but to redouble my efforts to use my art, my work and my life to make a difference. Then I went to the airport and drew more pigs. :D

Sunday was a great day, I got home, went to church preached and then went home. I began generating the graphics for a new outreach our church is doing with the local crisis pregnancy center called Blizzard of Blessings. I did not complete a lot of pieces this week, I didn't have access to photoshop, but I did a lot of work that will prepare me for a few weeks worth of creations. I hope this post blesses you.

One last word. You will be hearing a lot more about this trip in the weeks to come. Suffice it to say that it as a very transforming trip for me. I really encourage everyone to go on a trip like this. There is nothing like serving others in need. You don't need a lot of skills, just a willingness to serve and learn. If you would like to make a similar trip, contact the http://www.stbernardproject.org/v158/ or Brethren Disaster Ministries.