The Shoe Makers

 I painted these for a Music and the Spoken Word episode that aired on October 17, 2021. 

The story went that there were two shoe makers. They set up shop in a far-away country where they normally didn't wear shoes. One shoemaker was miserable--nobody was buying the shoes, and he was having very little business. The other shoemaker was having a great time--he was enjoying showing the people how to use the shoes and loved how their faces lit up! It was all about attitude.

Unfortunately, these paintings briefly aired on the first run, but were quickly removed, and now there isn't an episode that exists with them. I think there was an approval process that, at the last minute, didn't like that the two shoe makers had a different ethnicity than the people buying the shoes. My thought process was, the two guys were trying to sell in a far-away country, so the culture and even color of their skin would be very different from what they were used to. I meant no disrespect to either race.

Anyway, here are the paintings that you can't see on the broadcast. I loved researching African people's faces and clothing. I think they are so beautiful, and I need much more practice painting them.