The Worth of a Soul

I love art.  I studied Impressionism at the Musee d'Orsay in high school, haggled over oil paintings in Saigon until shop owners were ready to throw me out (but I got really good deals!), and growing up I would hang out at the St. Louis Museum of Art for relaxation.  I like reading about artists and knowing the full picture behind the canvas: Gaugain's journey to Tahiti-and syphilis, for example, or asking the artist in a bazaar in Rangoon, "Who is she?" when I buy a portrait.  I'm not much of an artist myself, but I appreciate quality, the artist's mind, and a good story. 

I knew we weren't doing much for the new baby's nursery.  Call it third child syndrome.  But I wanted something that represented Africa; something for this child alone that said, "This is my room."  Today, I found it!  Liz Lemon Swindle painted this for Mothers Without Borders (another one of my favorite things, by the way) while in Zambia addressing their AIDS orphan crisis.  This painting, "The Worth of a Soul", sprang from that experience, and profits from its sales go toward Mothers Without Borders.   I'll have to save up a little to get the big canvas size that I want for new baby, but I have a few months, so that shouldn't be a problem.   It speaks exactly what I want new baby to know: He is loved.  He has a Father.  He is worthy.