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Here are the next two portraits in the "Moni's Kids" series. Sophonie is 13 years old and a real beauty. She lost both parents during the flooding in Gonaives, Haiti, caused by hurricane Jeanne in September, 2004. She struck me as very mature and sweet. She actually wrote "Thank you for the service" and "God bless you" ( with a few delightful misspellings!) on the front of her drawing. On the back she wrote that she wants to be a doctor. I hope she fulfills her dream!

"Sophonie" 16"x16" finished size by Daggi Wallace and Sophonie

"Wendy" 10"x10" pastel by Daggi Wallace

I can't tell you too much about Wendy yet, because he is one of the kids I still need to get the story for, but since I already painted him, I thought I'd share him with you. I can tell you that he is 10 years old, has a sister at the orphanage and was quite a character which I think you can tell from his portrait! And take a look at his drawing: I love the HUGE boat with the tiny person and flag at the bottom right. And he was so patient filling in all the petals of his flower with the white gel pen I had brought!

"Wendy" 16"x16" finished size by Daggi Wallace and Wendy

Meet Jimmy! When we first met the kids and told them about our project he was the first one to jump up to have his photo taken! The other boys made fun of him and teased him about being a "model", but he just kept on smiling and laughing. We could feel his kind, good natured spirit.

We also noticed his bandaged ankles. Jimmy came to the orphanage at the age of 7 and is now 16 years old. He suffers from sickle cell anemia and has had a wound on his legs for 6 years now. He hopes to get treatment from the state soon. For a brighter future for Jimmy he needs to be able to get vocational schooling to learn a trade. The money raised from this project could help with his medical treatments and tuition.
Here is a picture of the portrait with Jimmy's background. He wanted us to see the beauty of his country and drew beaches and palm trees, boats and homes that were still intact.

"Jimmy" 16x16 finished size by Daggi Wallace and Jimmy

If you would like to give this piece a home and help Jimmy in the process, please contact me or click below:

I'm making progress on the portraits of the kids from New Life Children's Home in Haiti and am ready to share some with you!

Vanessa is 10 years old and such a cutie! I was trying to get a photo of her blowing a bubble with the bubble gum we brought ( note to self: test out the gum beforehand to see if it actually makes good bubbles!), but it just wouldn't work. She giggled throughout and kept at it. I decided to leave the blue gum showing in the side of her mouth.

Vanessa came to the orphanage after she was found in the streets. Her mother suffered from mental illness and was unable to care for her.

The other picture shows the painting with the background drawing done by Vanessa. I love the intricate flowers and hearts she drew! This will give you an idea what the finished painting will look like. They will all be framed in black canvas floater frames with Tru Vue glass and all archival materials which will last for generations.

"Vanessa" 16x16 finished size by Daggi Wallace and Vanessa

Please, remember that the proceeds will go directly back to Vanessa and the other children portrayed in this series. I will make no profit off these paintings. If you would like to give this piece a home and help Vanessa in the process, please contact me or click below:

We are back from Haiti, and what an experience it was! My 16 year old daughter, Sam, and I travelled from Dallas to Fort Lauderdale and on to Port-au-Prince. Even from the air you could see blue tarps everywhere. Port-au-Prince looks like the earthquake hit just last week. I knew it would be bad, but I had no idea how little (only 2%!) of the rubble had been cleared.We were fortunate to stay in a private home that had sustained very little damage but happened to be right across the street from one of the largest tent cities in the area. Tens of thousands of people living in tents, in stifling heat and humidity, tent "walls" only inches from each other, so crowded it boggles the mind. No human being should have to live under those conditions. I have no idea how they manage to keep hope and faith alive. We saw women with pretty dresses walking through the rubble-filled streets, looking beautiful and composed, proud and dignified, while I was dripping sweat 24/7 and trying not to get irritated about the temperature, constant honking of cars ( it seems to be the standard communication systems among all drivers) and the enormous amount of people on the streets.

Absolutely nothing is easy in Haiti and you take nothing for granted. Just because we had electricity at the house at one moment, didn't mean we'd have it in the next. The power went off frequently, our host Dave Rivard from Airline Ambassadors carried three cell phones at all times (I could text with mine but not make or receive any calls at all), in hopes that one might work, the car could hit one of the many, many potholes (huge, deep and everywhere!) and break the tie rod (as ours did one evening on our way to meeting two gentlemen from UNICEF) and getting anywhere through the congested streets always took much longer than anticipated.

I have been on other mission trips before, have seen poverty and chaos, but nothing like the city of Port-au-Prince. To be honest, I could not wait to come home. To my bed, air conditioning (it doesn't matter that it's a 106 in Texas today, we can always go inside and cool off!), to unlittered streets and (relatively) clean air.

But once we were actually on the plane back to Dallas a few days later something funny happened. Sam and I both started missing Haiti. The kindness of the Haitian people, their ability to laugh and joke and be so welcoming and hospitable; the children who lost parents or limbs or both, who still played and giggled and hugged and kissed us...well, they got under our skin and into our hearts and we found ourselves not wanting to leave them behind. 

As far as my project goes, well, one thing I learned from prior experiences is that something will always go wrong on a trip like this. And it did. The 30 children I was supposed to paint were not able to meet with me at all for a variety of reasons. Since I only had a couple of days to gather all of the reference material I needed to complete the 30 portraits back home, I quickly had to come up with an alternative. Sure, I could go out and meet thousands of kids in the tent cities, but how would I choose the 30 to portray? Furthermore, how would I find them again in a few months when I can hopefully return with the proceeds from the sale of the paintings? It is important to me that the kids I met would be the ones benefitting in the end. Since Airline Ambassadors had a visit planned at an orphanage the next day, I decided to see if I could work with the kids there. The place is called New Life Children's Home. You can read the amazing story of their founder (an American named Miriam Fredericks) on their web site at: http://newlife4kidz.org.

Miriam was enthusiastic about my project and with the help of her staff and her daughter, Sherry, we quickly rounded up 15 children that I could photograph. We were also so fortunate to have four other teenage girls there to help us work with the kids on providing the writing that will form the background to their portraits ( thank you so much, Dani, Chelsea, Kaitlin and Ashley!).  I thought I would get more written words, but the kids ended up drawing a whole lot more than writing! It's amazing how you can put a pen and paper into a child's hand and they will be happy drawing and doodling for hours. Some kids did share with us what they wanted to be when they grew up ( doctor was by far the most popular choice), and some drew what they wanted to be (a plane for a pilot, for instance), but most just expressed their love for their country. They drew palm trees and tropical flowers, beaches and boats. They wrote "I love Haiti" again and again. We had told them we wanted them to let the viewers and buyers of their portraits know who they were and it seemed to me they wanted us to know that they love their home country as much as we love ours, no matter what our impression of it may be. They see it as a beautiful place and are proud of it. To have that attitude after what they have been through, is definitely thought provoking.

As to the stories of the kids,  I will tell you much more about them as the paintings are finished one by one. Some are absolutely heartbreaking. I did meet with 15 more children the next day (the home has about 130 kids living there), but again things didn't quite worked out the way I planned and I did not get all of their stories yet. I do hope to have them to go along with the paintings.

As far as their needs, they are many and varied. The older ones are in need of tuition for vocational training soon so they may have a brighter looking future. There are also some that still need surgeries. How we will spend the funds raised will be determined by how much we end up with.

I need your help to spread the word, so each painting will find a home as soon as possible after its completion. Also, if you would like to help offset the cost of this mission such as the framing and materials, you may donate directly on this site or at Airline Ambassadors: http://airlineamb.org/TopLevel/3_Programs/Donate_To_A_Project_Template.htm.
Any amount is greatly appreciated and I thank you!

I will probably write more about our experience in Haiti, including the great people we met and worked with but for now I need to spend my time painting the portraits.

I am getting a late start on it, because I was sick from the day I got home! I don't get sick much, but this time I was laid out flat (and I didn't catch it in Haiti, but it was due to the overtime worked before leaving and burning the candle at both ends). After a reluctant trip to the doctor and some meds, I'm much better and finished the first portrait. Except...I will do it over!
I had received a very generous amount of paper from my friend and fellow artist Marie Maines, enough paper for the whole project!), but it's a different kind of texture than I usually use and I wasn't quite happy with the effects. Since I do not have much time to get these done before my day job comes calling, I did not want to spend too much time learning and experimenting with something new. So, today I started again with my beloved regular paper.

I invite you to sign up to receive regular blog posts as I upload images of the finished portraits of the awesome kids we met in Haiti. Thanks for your interest and look for the first image in a couple of days!

In the meantime, here are some photos of our trip (You can see more on my facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/Daggi-Wallace-Studio/131014993590334).

sign for help in Haiti

tent city

showers

The Presidential Palace



The kids working in their classroom on their art assignment for the portraits

Sam and Vanessa

Sam and Jeremie

This boy was such a serious young artist, making one playdoh sculpture after another! When I asked him if he was an "artiste" (my highschool French came in handy) he never hesitated with a definite "Oui!" He knew exactly who he was.

Out of fear some of the kids still sleep outside

A dream come true: "Moni's Kids"!

For years I have sought ways to use my art "for the greater good", specifically how to combine my love of painting and my desire to help children in need. I have painted many kids' portraits for clients and visited orphanages with the non-profit group Airline Ambassadors (http://www.airlineamb.org/) in my spare time. But how to make them both work together?
I am so very excited to finally make the jump and start my own non-profit project! I am naming it after my late mother, operating it under the supportive umbrella of Airline Ambassadors and kicking it off next week with a trip to Haiti!

My youngest daughter, Sam, and I will be meeting 30 children who have lost one or both of their parents in the January earthquake. I will be photographing the kids and will paint a portrait of each one of them after I return home to my studio.
While we are there the children will be writing about their stories, hopes and dreams. These writings will be part of the finished artwork, the idea being to give the kids a face and a voice, to have them be "seen and heard".
The proceeds from the sale of the paintings will directly benefit the children portrayed. Sam and I will travel back to Haiti and deliver aid, such as school supplies, scholarships, food, clothing and books, with the funds raised. Each child will also receive a small print of their portrait, so they may see the finished product.
In addition, I hope that the children will gain a sense of dignity and pride by having helped create a piece of art which not only brings joy to the buyer of it but also improved living conditions for themselves. I plan to make this a yearly event, choosing different destinations for each series of portraits.

                       The Inspiration behind "Moni's Kids"

I started drawing at an early age growing up in Berlin, Germany. The first portrait I ever drew was the face of a little girl on a UNICEF brochure on our coffee table. This was my parents' charity of choice and my mother, Monika ( Moni to her friends and family), was instrumental in instilling a social conscience in her three children. She also was immensely interested in other countries. Documentaries of other cultures were the norm in our TV viewing habits. When I started going on Airline Ambassador mission trips years ago, my mother loved the idea but always said she wouldn't be able to go herself because her heart would break. She passed away in 2001 at the age of only 59. I'm naming my project in honor of her. Her sole purpose in life was children, her own and other people's. I love the idea that children will continue to be helped in her name.

                                          Interested in helping?

There are different ways you can help. You can make donations to help offset the cost of this project by clicking on the button above. Or you may make donations through Airline Ambassadors where you can receive a receipt for tax deductions:

http://airlineamb.org/TopLevel/3_Programs/Donate_To_A_Project_Template.htm

And, most importantly, you may help by purchasing a portrait of one of the kids!
All proceeds from this series will go directly back into the project. I will post each painting as I finish it, so be sure to sign up to receive the posts.

Please, join me on this exciting journey to make a long harbored dream come true! I invite all of you to sign up to receive regular blog posts and follow me along the process of creating the paintings. I will also post photos from our initial trip to Haiti and our return to the kids in a few months.

Look for the first pictures next weekend. Off to Haiti!