Neema

Neema, pronounced ney-mah, means "grace" in Swahili. I love that name, and boy, did she carry it well. Meet Neema! This is the girl I'm painting (it's actually the girl in the middle of the header photo above)! She has quite the story. Leaving out specifics, she was found at age three surviving on her own. The orphanage school I worked for, Rafiki Foundation, took her in, gave her a home and put her in school. While I was in Tanzania, I got to teach Neema art! She absolutely loved it. Her personality was a little timid, kind, and observant - the personality of a true artist. I sure do miss her!

I want to show you an Even Me painting in its early stage. The painting process is different from drawing. Instead of drawing from left to right, oil painting is about building upon layer after layer. The layers start out ambiguous and evolve into the specifics. I'm about three layers into Neema's painting. Most Even Me paintings take...I don't even know how many layers because it's so many... I want to say 50+ layers. Neema's still in its ambiguous stage, but you can see the shadows, highlights, and, if you squint, you can start to see a face emerging. After this layer dries in a few days, I'll start stippling colors with my itty bitty paint brush. 

Stay tuned for more about Neema's painting!

XO, Jenna