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.