Faye's Feedback

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 ...

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 ...

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...

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...

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 ob...

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. T...

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 Esth...

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 insp...

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 ...

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 ...

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 th...

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...

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...

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 S aviour 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 alw...