I've had the great pleasure to meet many kindred spirits and interesting people via my blog who I did not know offline or may have never connected.
One such person I've met is Ashely Cecil, a self-described "painting journalist" who describes the world with a paintbrush (and a scanner and a blog.) I think of her work as a mashup between an extremely talented court room artist, journalist, social activist and philanthropist.
A few recent posts that I have enjoyed include her sketch and report about the grant preparation session held by a local foundation and her post/portrait of Braveheart, a dog available for adoption from the Human Society. (I'm a dog person, so this one got my attention -- a portion of the portrait fee will be donated to the Humane Society, the dog might get a new home, and you can watch a time lapse video of her painting the portrait.
Ashely Cecil is fundraising on her blog for her upcoming to visit Venezuela this February with Witness for Peace where art will meet social activism. She hopes to do the following:
- Meeting with labor organizers, scholars, professionals, business people, representatives of the media and activists to discuss the economic, social and political issues confronting Venezuelan society.
- Learning about grassroots resistance to unjust and devastating global economic trends.
- Discussing alternatives to current US policies and ways to advocate for more just policies towards Venezuela.
Here's the description from her blog:
The images I will gather from this trip will certainly yield
excellent material for my paintings. I will be creating watercolors
while I’m away and posting them (as well as my commentary) whenever an
internet cafe is available.
So, here I am just one month from my departure, and $2,000 needs to
be raised. I’ve added the badge above to the sidebar so my readers can
contribute with donations. If you’re not one to give without receiving, I am pre-selling
paintings that will come as a result of this trip. 6″ x 9″ watercolors
are $70, and 8″ x 10″ oils on canvas are $220. I encourage you to
support my efforts in raising awareness about these issues and the
organizations that are working to resolve them by clicking on the
donation badge..."
Remember, if you support her trip with a pre-purchase of a painting, a portion of the proceeds goes to support organizations working to resolve these social issues.
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