Thursday, April 22, 2010

Walking in the Cotton




Walking in the Cotton
dave chapman
We were having a goodbye party for the children of Los Algodones with cake, juice, balloons and videos when I was astonished to see Jasien walk in all by himself assisted by a cane. I wish you could have seen my face, I think my chin bounced off the floor.
I had been giving Jasien therapy for months, he was born with Cerebral Palsy and he had been given an operation to correct his misshapen leg but he had never walked before.



the Dream
8x10" Oil on canvas Painted this several years ago. I was trying to capture a night sky. There is a figure (side view) in the foreground resting on a large upturned hand. It was painted as a reminder to myself that I and all my dreams are in the hand of my Heavenly Father. I find I have to keep reminding myself of this so I keep this painting where I can glance at it from time to time.


Monday, April 19, 2010

New Pen and Ink drawings



I have been doing some very basic sketches in ink lately.  I really like the freedom to create something out of nothing.  Just an idea drawn out in pencil and inked.  Playing with the composition, contrasts and textures created by black line on white paper.   To create something interesting using simple ideas.  

“Ship”  Sometimes my life feels like it's at the mercy of whatever way the wind happens to be blowing.  I guess this is true for everyone.  This is just a sketch I did to express my frustration.

“Dr. Bob’s Three Legged Dominican Dog”  We went up and down the road to Los Algodones at least twice a day carrying people to clinics and every now and then women in labour.  We would visit Dr Bobs clinic twice a week and arrive home at the village in the dark.  Navigating the road was sometimes a challenge as the water level of the river we had to cross would often put out our headlights and we would drive almost blind and mostly by memory.
This is a pen and ink drawn from memory.  I've added one of Dr Bobs adopted three legged dogs in the background. (can you find it?)  On one of our last trips we weren't quite fast enough and Sandy had to deliver a baby in the back of our Jeep.  ( That only happened once)
So good to know we were in God's hands through all of this and that He gave us the strength to do what we had to.


“the Car”  We had the use of a little "Jeepetta" as they call it in the Dominican.  We drove it every day transporting the villagers to clinics and hospital.   There were times when we had more than 12 people in it if you count the babies (it's made for 4)  Driving at night in the D.R. was a real challenge because the primary vehicle used by the locals who can afford it is a motorcycle.  They would ride on the side of the road with no lights at night and spotting them took Sandy (my wife) leaning out the window and saying "I think I see something,  oh yes its a bike"

“Haiti”  It was so hard to watch the news about the earthquake in Haiti.  So many of our friends are from there.  It was also disturbing to see the money being thrown at the problems with so little understanding of the situation.  The problems facing Haiti are going to take a long time to overcome but from what I know of the people they are equal to the task if only they could be given the resources locally.  My heart breaks for Haiti.