Georgia on my Mind ...

The weather is getting cold here which inevitably directs my inner compass toward the south and I start looking forward to reunions my southern friends and family members.

"Five Amigas" - mural painters

During the coldest portion of the Ohio winters, I unashamedly hightail it to Georgia.  I regularly rent a temporary working space at the Tannery Row Artist Colony where I used to have a studio. This past winter I was approached by a fellow resident of the colony, Sabrina, about painting a large mural  on the outside wall of a warehouse in Chinandega, Nicaragua.  Sabrina and her husband head up an organization which does a variety of wonderful things to Nicaraguan people.

Armed with a variety of innoculations we headed to Nicaragua for our ten day adventure.  My four artist companions, Judy, Sabrina, Judy, Soonie (all Tannery Row Artists) and I planned and pounded out a mural  approximately 60' x 13').  Our subject matter reflected the good works being done by our commissioning organization to make life safer, healthier and happier for Nicaraguan people displaced by natural disasters.  

We drank gallons of water (it was VERY hot and humid) and lunched on peanut butter sandwiches.  Breakfasts and dinners always included tasty beans and rice and wonderully sweet fruits.  We commiserated about our increasing physical ailments, stiff necks, bug bites, sun burns, joint problems, dizziness, bad knees, etc. and we laughed, sang songs, climbed up and down ladders and scaffolding, danced, and painted on and on when we felt like we couldn’t lift another brush.  

Our experience was unforgettable and life changing. We pushed ourselves to our limits; we tearfully observed people surviving in unimaginable circumstances; we laughed and communicated with local folks using our limited language skills; we got lost in our work, and we formed a poignant professional and personal bond with one another. 

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Judy, Judy, Sabrina, Soonie and myself after finishing the mural