Erminia

I have tons of photos, artwork, maps, yada yada on my wall. Most of the pictures I have of the girls staying at Villa Esperanza are right next to my door, so everytime I leave, I see their faces (not that I need anything to remind me of them...)

One of the things next to my door, is a card I received from FEI a while back, with an image of a painting Erminia had done. Erminia is one of the girls staying at Villa Esperanza. Some information about Erminia on the sponsorship poster reads: "Erminia's dad recently died after battling a horrible illness that their mother also suffers from. Her mother's health is failing fast, leaving no one to care for Erminia. Erminia misses her father but is finding healing and care at the Villa. She has many close friends among her Villa housemates. Her sister, Scarleth, also lives at the Villa." According to the poster, her exact birthdate is unknown.

She was one of the first girls I got to meet at the Villa. She was very quiet, but extremely sweet. She sat next to me at dinner the first night, and would only giggle if I tried to say anything to her. I suppose that's to be expected though, considering I don't know too much Spanish and I probably said something really strange ;] Hopefully when I see her next, I'll be able to actually have a full conversation with her that makes sense.

Anyways, I've been thinking a lot about her lately (well... I think a lot about all the girls at the Villa ALL THE TIME IT'S RIDICULOUS). She's the inspiration behind my new painting. Maybe some day I'll get to share it with her :]

(sorry for the glare!!)

It is of a girl  painting in La Chureca (the dump). It's much harder to paint garbage than you think! Yikes! But that's basically what the background is... garbage. There's the landfill with the yucky smoke, then there's the scattered garbage. Then there's the hill with a house made out of garbage. Just tons of garbage!

I didn't make the girl look like Erminia, partly because I couldn't quite create flattering features within a tiny area, and partly because I want the viewer to imagine any little girl living in these conditions. And my tiny version of Erminia's painting doesn't come close to how cute hers is, but I tried!

The purple dress resembles the dresses the girls at the Villa have, and the flowers remind me of the flowers at the Villa. I only placed the flowers around her, not in the background, as if to say she has a beautiful life despite her ugly home.

So that's that! The second oil painting I've ever done! Thanks Erminia ;]