Armed Men Illustrated - Watercolor by Woody Hansen
Baghdad Haze II – Watercolor by Woody Hansen
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This morning I opened an e-mail from Heather Wallace, Senior Editor of Oraton Media Corporation. Heather was seeking permission to use two of my paintings as illustrations for an article on Orato.com. The article slug caught my eye, “It takes an army uniform and a rifle to stop people from throwing trash in front of our house.”

Earlier this evening I sent Heather a reply, including my permission to use “Baghdad Haze II,” and “Burst of Light,” to illustrate “Next Door to Armed Men,” a fascinating and touching story by Chikitita Tita.

Chikitita is a 28-year old woman, who lives with her “mum” and step-dad in Baghdad, Iraq. In Chikitita’s Google Profile, she writes, “They say there are hardly any bright sides in Iraq. That’s not true, I managed to see some…. Now I’m running out of hope.” Based on my reading of several of Chikitita’s articles, she is not running out of hope. She is a beacon of hope.

I hope you will take time to read, “Next Door to Armed Men,” and Chikitita’s blog, “First Words, First Walk, First in Iraq.” I find her work informative, and enlightening. At Chikitita’s blog be sure to view My World In Pictures!” It will be time well spent.

Exposure of one’s work is nice. However, from my point of view, more important is how “Baghdad Haze II” found its way from the camera of a journalist filming “Shock and Awe,” to the screen of my living room television set, into my head, onto my easel, then to my web site, to Flicker, only to end up years later alongside Chikititia’s writing. It is almost as if the entire process were – palm tree and all – preordained?