Halfway There!

It's been eight months since I started the illustrations for The Biggest Family in the World ...sometimes it feels like I've been working on it forever, but then the time has flown by so fast. The 16th page, which is the official halfway point was just completed! I thank God for this!

This photo is a part of page fifteen, where a newly added street child reacts to having her own bed for the first time in her life.

At a recent church service, Arvid Loewen, the cycling philanthropist showed us a short video documenting his cycling journey with the Mully Children's Family, raising millions of dollars in support. The Mully Children's Family has now processed over 7500 children, feeding, loving and educating them for useful roles as adults in society.

This children's book will help to tell more people about Charles Mulli's miraculous life story, inspiring children from all walks of life, that they were created for a purpose and can do incredible things with their lives, if they will allow God to guide them.

The Biggest Family in the World - a new children's book based on the life of Charles Mulli, planned for publication in September, 2014. This is a blog chronicling the book's creation from the perspective of the artist.

Running Out of Gas

Recently, I had my first experience running out of gas with my car. I was fortunate enough to be able to guide my sputtering Volvo into a side bus turnout, so that I wasn't blocking rush hour traffic. Talk about frustrating, and going through a stage of anger with myself, and wishing the sidewalk would develop a hole to swallow me up!

A Co-op Gas bar was a couple of blocks ahead, and I trudged forward, madly planning in my head how long this might all take, and will I make it to my house before my kids arrive for the dinner that wasn't started yet...

Lately, I feel like I am running out of gas. My job is stressful, there are many demands on my time - a major holiday weekend of family gatherings, a funeral for my dear Uncle Cornie, and the joy of the first birthday of my precious granddaughter, Kaylee.

After a particularly frustrating day, before bed I was led to read a chapter from singer/author Carolyn Arends' e-book, Theology in Aisle Seven. It is a compilation of articles that she has written for the magazine, Christianity Today, and as I gazed at the title for the next chapter, my jaw dropped. "What to do with Anger: Meekness" was the title that addressed exactly my present issue. The tears started to fall as I read the chapter. Each line seemed to address how I felt, and Carolyn adeptly described how to deal with my feelings.

She uses Psalm 37:5 as her reference for "rolling" the need to defend ourselves, as well as our needs and concerns - onto God. Immediately one of her songs, Roll It, from her album Love Was Here First, started playing through my mind. She sings, "Worry and strife won't add a day to your life, you've got to roll it onto God".

Meekness, surprisingly, isn't a term of weakness, meant for one to roll over and take it - but to stay the course - like when I ran out of gas, trudging to the gas bar, madly planning my next steps. Carolyn says that meekness is associated with strength that is submitted to an appropriate authority, like an ox at the plow. The ox is extraordinarily strong. I'm not crazy about the ox analogy, but it works. ;)

Anger and frustration was sapping my strength. It was time to roll it... thanks, Carolyn!!

Coloured Water

My home city of Winnipeg has coloured water. Throughout our summer of 2013, I have occasionally seen brownish water pouring into my receptacle that I use to fill my coffeemaker. People are upset and want something done - the evening news is showing reactions of various people in the city, including our mayor. Tests are being done for safety, as our fresh water is contaminated with iron and manganese.

Thus go the frequent inconveniences of our own privileged lives...

Yesterday I started Page 13 for The Biggest Family in the World. Paul H. Boge, the author of Charles Mulli's biography Father to the Fatherless and this new children's version, has provided me with hundreds of photos to work from, as I paint the story of Charles Mulli's life. The last one I painted was one of his family in their mansion, sitting at a table set for a feast. The children were being informed that their father was going to sell his businesses and start an orphanage.

Page 13, a pivotal moment in the story, will be a painting of Charles Mulli standing on a hill overlooking a Kenyan slum. He has to find the first two children to bring home as part of his family. The task seems overwhelming! How do you choose? The slum is made up of concrete and mud homes with corrugated metal sheeting for roofs. There is no running water here. There is a trench in the road where garbage and sewage collects. It reminds me a lot of a similar slum that I visited on a tour to Guatemala, where people were literally living in a garbage dump. Their means of existence consisted of sifting through the garbage every day for food and re-usable items. You can imagine the smell and the heaps of garbage with vultures circling overhead....

Below is the photo taken by the book's author, Paul Boge, that I am using as reference for this particular page. I will be doing a more "cleaned up" version. As they read together, I can imagine parents asking their children, "How do you think you would feel if you lived here?"

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The Biggest Family in the World - a new children's book based on the life of Charles Mulli, planned for publication in 2014. This is a blog chronicling the book's creation from the perspective of the artist.

Imagine...

Imagine you are a child, and your father is a wealthy businessman. You live in a big house with your family, eat lots of good food, dress in beautiful clothes, and ride to school every day in a limousine. Then at dinner one day your dad announces that he is going to sell all of his businesses to start an orphanage for street children.

The face pictured here is part of the unfinished painting, Page 12 of The Biggest Family in the World, where the entire family is around the dinner table, being told this very news, by their father, Charles Mulli. He told his family of the decision to start the Mully Children's Family, about 25 years ago. In this family portrait, each of Charles and Esther's eight children react to the news in different ways.

How do you think that Charles Mulli's children reacted when their dad told them this news? How do you think you would you react? You can read more about this remarkable family in the two biographical books by Paul H. Boge, Father to the Fatherless and Hope for the Hopeless. Paul's website is www.paulboge.com, where you can read about his past and present projects for the Mully Children's Family.

The Biggest Family in the World - a new children's book based on the life of Charles Mulli, planned for publication in 2014. This is a blog chronicling the book's creation from the perspective of the artist.

Beauty Can Save the World!

Sometimes when I observe our present culture, I want to throw up my hands and give up.

We are such a narcissistic generation. The accumulation of goods and commodities is our entire goal, we whine and file petitions when we feel the wrong actor is playing in the next Batman movie, and young men plot to murder others just because they are bored and have no purpose in life. There is so much violence in our world, on TV and movies, that we are becoming numb to tragedy.

I just came upon a jarring 30 minute video - an interview with theologian Walter Brueggeman, called "Matrix of Hope", who boldly states from the start, that our present culture is one of "death".

He goes on to explain his thoughts in an artistic interpretation of Acts 5, "We are to obey God rather than men." His explanation of this text is that we are to "Curb our imagination to the claims of the dominant culture." "Art and artists are exactly the people who must not obey man by conforming to the dominant images and culture, and they have to do wild undomesticated images and metaphors to break that open." The video goes on to explain the premise in depth.

The blog is worth the read, if you have a moment, and the video is also very interesting and illuminating.


Read the complete blog by Cameron Anderson along with the video, Matrix of Hope.

* quotes by Walter Brueggeman, interviewed by Joel Sheesley in Matrix of Hope.

My painting, "Serenity" depicts the lure of culture on young people. (below)

Page 9 in Progress

This photo is a closeup of a small part of Page 9 of The Biggest Family in the World (painting is in progress). A young boy approaches Charles Mulli, who is traveling in his Mercedes Benz. There are several other children and teens who are observing the "rich man" in his vehicle.

I am hoping that the faces of all of the children in this book will connect with the children who read this book in the future, and create productive discussion between parents and the young readers.

I had an opportunity and privilege to be one of many to nominate Mr. Mulli for the 2013 CNN Hero. How else can you describe a man who gave away a multi-million dollar lifestyle to raise thousands of street children and orphans? If you would like to learn more about his mission, you can view a short video by clicking here....

This video you will see is the one that was played in my home church that inspired me to paint The Mully Children's Family Mosaic, which you can view at this link.

The Biggest Family in the World - a new children's book based on the life of Charles Mulli, planned for publication in 2014. This is a blog chronicling the book's creation from the perspective of the artist.

Broad Stroke Kinda Girl

I am a "broad stroke" kind of girl... I love big paintings, broad strokes and lots of colour. Becoming an adult woman has taught me many lessons, some the hard way. I'm definitely not a perfectionist - detail work doesn't come naturally. As a kid, my room was always messy. My art studio is messy too, but it's an organized messy ;).

Through the lessons of life, raising children and the many job experiences I've had, detail has out of necessity become a learned attribute. I wouldn't be able to perform my work as an administrative assistant without some planning, detail and organization.

The Mulli book project entails a lot of detail. I have learned to appreciate the detail and enjoy the results. For example, two of the recent paintings I've worked on for the story have involved multi people, and some of them actually have to look like the characters. Mulli and his wife Esther are two of them in the paintings. I don't have a lot of photos of Esther and sometimes need to piece together the Mulli character from several photos, and then adjust it to make him look younger to suit the storyline. Whew! 

One detail that amazed me was the car in this photo. I looked on the internet for a "rich man's car" to paint that would be appropriate for the time period when Mulli started his businesses. I chose an older model  Mercedes. Little did I know, (Paul told me later) that Charles Mulli owned a Mercedes as one of his first cars... neat oh!

The details in the series of paintings are what will make the book special. The expressions on the faces, the symbolism, and the hints of what is to come, all seem to work themselves into the paintings. I want The Biggest Family in the World to be a very unique and interesting book to read and look at. A part of the story will be in the printed word provided by Paul H. Boge,  and the rest of the story will be told in the painstaking detail of the paintings.

Sometimes I am overwhelmed by the size of the project, but I work on two pages at a time and try not to think about how many are left. About one third is almost complete. Yay!

The Biggest Family in the World - a new children's book based on the life of Charles Mulli, planned for publication in 2014. This is a blog chronicling the book's creation from the perspective of the artist.

I'm in the ZONE!

After experiencing a dry spell, it's nice to spend a few consecutive hours painting where things are all "coming together". While I enjoy it for the most part, painting the pages for The Biggest Family in the World can seem like a marathon - so much detail to paint, where I am accustomed to painting big, fast and loose (unlike my lifestyle of course ;).

I was working on painting a Kenyan vehicle called a manatu - the "taxi" that Charles Mulli started his multi-million dollar business with. The vehicle is full of people being transported by a smiling Mulli - people sitting on top, hanging on the back, and chickens flying out of an opened cage...I'd show you a picture of it, but it would spoil the surprise...

To loosen up between long painting sessions, I've been working on some portraits that will "accompany" the book. The latest is a beautiful young girl who had been rescued by the Mully Children's Family. The original photo that inspired me is from one of the many photos Paul Boge (author of the book) took on his January 2013 research trip to Kenya.

The Biggest Family in the World - a new children's book based on the life of Charles Mulli, planned for publication in 2014. This is a blog chronicling the book's creation from the perspective of the artist.

Serenity - a painting

The idea for this painting began as a beautiful photo by Paul Boge on his January 2013 trip to Kenya. Of the hundreds of photos that he brought home, this was one of several that I put securely in my special file for future use in a "side" painting to accompany the paintings of the book, The Biggest Family in the World.

The face of the woman is not only beautiful, humble and serene, but it typifies the happiness and serenity of the children of the Mully Children's Family orphanage in Kenya. All of these children were rescued from street life -  prostitution, sickness, neglect, drug and alcohol and physical abuse by others. Each of their lives is a story of its own. The call of addiction and street life often lures the children back to their old way of life despite the comfort, safety and God-centred family atmosphere at the Mully home.

I wanted to paint this beautiful girl, not just as a portrait, but a way to demonstrate the lure and evil hold that an old way of life can have on one of the rescued children. Without the faith that has been offered to them, they are defenseless. The idea of groping hands surrounding her came to my mind's eye, and I decided to ask my drama team to do some "hand acting" as one of our meeting exercises.

I  waited until a day where I couldn't get this particular painting off of my mind, and began the piece. I showed the finished portrait to Martine (our drama team leader) to see if she interpreted the painting in the same way that I had intended. Her thoughts were right on. The focus (the face) embodies the name of the painting, but the chaos that she is oblivious to, represents the spiritual battle and temptations that lure behind the scenes. It is the girl's faith that shields and protects her.

To view more of my art, visit www.fayehall.com

Angel in a Plaid Shirt and Jeans

The Biggest Family in the World - a new children's book based on the life of Charles Mulli, planned for publication in 2014. This is a blog chronicling the book's creation from the perspective of the artist.

Today I find myself painting an "angel", so I had to quickly write down the experience. Specifically, I'm painting the young man from Charles Mulli's past who first invited him to church. The painting started out like any other - two men in a field, one gesturing to the church behind him, an inviting smile on his face, and teenage Charles looking skeptical.

It is one of the crossroads paintings for the storyline in the book, The Biggest Family in the World, where Charles makes one of the major decisions that changes the course of this Kenyan boy's life. On one hand there is the field of workers where he has been toiling to make a living. On the other hand is the invitation to attend a revival service. There is nothing remarkable about the young man who is inviting Charles, but as I painted the sunshine pouring down on his shoulders, he reminded me of an angel. It was God who used that particular young man at that moment in time to help Charles Mulli begin a new path that would change thousands of lives forever.

The "angel" also appears in a second painting, where Charles has accepted Christ, and is kneeling in front of the congregation of jubilant young people. The angel is in the front row, giving Charles a quiet "thumbs up" sign - a symbol of the future...


Fun Tidbit:

I didn't have quite the right gesture for the young man's face and hands, so I asked my friend Ed Ratzlaff to pose for me during one of our church drama rehearsals. Thanks, Ed!! (This photo is a small part of a larger, unfinished painting for the book.)

Dreaded "Painter's Block"

The Biggest Family in the World - a new children's book based on the life of Charles Mulli, planned for publication in 2014. This is a blog chronicling the book's creation from the perspective of the artist.

I've heard of writer's block, but in the last few years, the inspiration for painting has been flowing like a fountain for me - I guess I've taken it for granted.

Well, I've experienced my first "painter's block", sitting down to paint and just feeling weary, uninspired and uninterested. Time to pray.... Instead of giving in to my feelings of panic, I decided to sit down and re-think my time planning for working on the book paintings, and focus on praying for fresh vision, inspiration and God's will for this. Perhaps I was so excited for the project that I expected too much of myself. Perhaps outside stresses have seemed to magnify themselves, and beg me to give in to depression again. One thing I know for certain,  I can't do this in my own strength.

This is also a good time to reflect on how this project came into being. Paul Boge was in Africa in January of 2013, taking photos of places and people for the content of the paintings. One photo shoot was a mock revival service of the time when Charles Mully became a believer in Christ. This is how Paul described the moment:

Miracle Moment:

"You’d be surprised what can happen when you’re location scouting.

Charles Mulli re-enacted major events in his life so that I could take pictures of them so Faye Hall could use those pictures as information to help craft paintings for the children’s book.  In this particular scene, Mulli and I entered the assembly area at Mully Children’s Family Yatta.  He announced to the group of three hundred young people that an MCF boy was going to re-enact how he gave his life to Christ. The re-enactment went great. And right after that, Mulli told them that this didn’t have to be just a re-enactment – that those present could really give their lives to Christ.  And 9 teens got saved right that day. How cool is that?"                 - Paul Boge

Voyeur with Permission

The Biggest Family in the World - a new children's book based on the life of Charles Mulli, planned for publication in 2014. This is a blog chronicling the book's creation from the perspective of the artist.

It's a strange feeling as I paint the details of someone else's life. It's almost like I am a voyeur, observing and studying personal photos in an attempt to bring Charles Mulli's story to life on "canvas". I have the help of Paul Boge, the writer of Charles' biography, Father to the Fatherless, and of course Paul's own stories of his intimate relationship and visits with the Mulli family in Kenya.

The adapted version that I am working on is also very broad and generalized in scope, so that there is a lot of freedom to "fill in" the visual gaps as I need to. One of the more amusing scenarios is as I work on young Charles' new business ventures, where he purchases a matatu (truck for local transport), and starts taxiing loads of people around Eldoret. I have an original photo of Charles in his matatu, and as I sketched it today, I started filling it with people in amusing situations. There were no limits to the number of people you could cram into those vehicles! They would be literally hanging out the sides or on the back bumper.

Very rough sketch of Charles Mulli's first matatu.

As I write this, three of the paintings are complete, and two are almost done, and two more are in sketch phase. I really look forward to each day that I have set aside to sketch and paint. Each scene has so much going on to give the future book reader a lot to absorb. For example, when Charles is forced to beg for food for the first time, he is surrounded by neighbourhood children who observe the embarrassed boy. As each child watches, they have individual reactions to his situation - one makes fun of  him, one is compassionate, another is looking down on him, and so on.

Miracle Moments: I recall often, how I felt after my first husband, Werner Kliewer died in 2002. It felt like I was literally being "carried" through the grief process - each day was supported by many prayers of family and friends. I have the same feeling as I paint this story. Your prayers are providing inspiration, energy and ideas as I work, and I thank you so very much! Please keep praying, as this year-long process will be very much like one of Arvid Loewen's cycling marathons! I expect to encounter mountains, valleys, headwinds and of course lots of smooth sailing... :)

No Ordinary Project

The Biggest Family in the World - a new children's book based on the life of Charles Mulli, planned for publication in 2014. This is a blog chronicling the book's creation from the perspective of the artist.

A story about a boy...this is no ordinary boy. His name is Charles Mulli.

Deserted by his family as a child and left to fend for himself on the streets, Charles tells his tragic but miraculous story in Father to the Fatherless, by Paul H. Boge. The boy in Kenya became a believer in Christ, grew up to be a successful millionaire businessman, and then gave it all up to help other street children and orphans. He and his wife, Esther have been Daddy and Mommy Mulli for over 20 years, loving, teaching about Jesus Christ and educating more than 6,000 children to move on to fruitful, productive lives.

I was recently asked by Paul Boge and Charles Mulli to contribute paintings as illustrations for the new children's version of Mulli's life, The Biggest Family in the World. Paul created an outline of the story, and he and I planned visuals for the pages. He flew to Kenya for the month of January, 2013 and between other projects there, he took hundreds of photos for me to use as reference for the paintings. Charles Mulli and his children acted out different appropriate scenes, and through Paul's camera and creative eyes, I have a starting point on which to base the visual story. Paul is actually working on several stories at once. He is planning a movie project on Mulli's life, and will also do another book based on the life of one of the young people whose compelling story of street life and redemption is begging to be told.

Once the photos were available, I created a story-board style series of thumbnail sketches, outlining the visual content of each page. Paul and I reviewed and revised the outline and once we received the approval of Mr. Mulli, we had the "green light" to begin.

This is no ordinary project. I have never done anything of this magnitude and scope, and to be honest, it is terrifying. But taken one step at a time and with a team of prayer warriors behind us, I've started painting.

Page one sets the tone and style for the book, as it introduces the boy and the location on a wide landscape of Kenya. I have included a cropped snippet of the painting, as I will save the full view for the book itself.

Miraculous Moment Story: Frankly, I was nervous about starting Page One. It is supposed to grab the reader and make him or her want to read more. On Saturday March 30th, I had already created a rough sketch that was transferred to the panel, and was about to start painting. Minutes before I began, an email arrived in my inbox from Paul, with a word of encouragement  from Charles Mulli himself...needless to say, I wept in relief, as whatever happened next would be in God's hands.

Page One was finished in the early hours of Easter Sunday. The painting content ended up containing a great deal of unplanned symbolism, which makes it even more meaningful.

A Painting and a Poem for Palm Sunday

I am on the mailing list to receive the inspiring poetry and sonnets by Malcolm Guite, the English poet who has contributed so much inspiration to Steve Bell's latest album Keening for the Dawn, and also to many of my own paintings. This morning, he sent a poem for Palm Sunday. Part of the lyric are is follows:

Now to the gate of my Jerusalem,

The seething holy city of my heart,

The Saviour comes. But will I welcome him? 

From Sounding the Seasons, by Malcolm Guite, CanterburyPress 2012

I regret that I have not had the time to ponder the Lent season myself, but as I've stopped to take a breath, I hope to use Malcolm's poetry to walk me through the final week before Easter.

As soon as I saw Malcolm's post, I knew I would write something about it. My life has been a "seething city" (in a good way), and I need to quiet my heart to ponder this blessed season. Recently, I sold a special painting called The Gate  to a dear friend. I am always thrilled when a painting is adopted by someone I know who will appreciate it. The Gate was inspired by an photo by Ebonie Klassen, and has always reminded me of the Easter season. I look at the light just beyond the lichen and moss covered iron and imagine the empty tomb. :)

 If you would like to read the poem Palm Sunday in its entirety, you can find it here.