Friday, July 23, 2010

Fairy Tales, my recent obsession with Unicef and Ebay

For those of you who have been following my Facebook updates, you may recall that my husband and I have been watching a movie called "The Long Way Down."  What it is, is an 8 hour documentary about Ewen McGregor and his best friend Charile Boorman riding their motorcycles from the tip of Scotland to the bottom of Africa.

Even if you aren't a motorcycle rider, it is still enjoyable and pretty impressive to watch. In fact I HIGHLY recommend this movie.  I loved it so much I'm going to re-watch the first movie "The Long Way Round" (London to New York by way of Siberia)  Fantastic!

Besides riding the bikes, you see gorgeous scenery, ruins, culture, exotic animals etc.  But they also highlight several stops to Unicef sites in Africa.  What you see there is very eye opening to say the least.  I tend not to read the news simply because it's depressing.  A terrible excuse I know, but the way I thought, was why insert more problem/drama into my life, I already have enough I don't need anyone else's.




Well guess what?  My drama?  Is nothing.  Absolutely nothing.  I feel completely spoiled and rich after watching this movie.  I am extremely grateful for what I have, and I really don't need anymore.  I thought I did, but I realize now, no I don't.  I can't tell you how much it put my life into perspective after seeing children orphaned and living essentially on the streets because both their parents died from AIDS.   Children who have to learn to be aware of land mines right outside their front doors.  And on and on and on. 

I don't want to go into too many more details for fear of sounding all preachy, but I want you to know it really touched me to see this.  And I immediately felt I wanted to help in some way.  I know it will have to be small, but something is better than nothing right?   Well I thought and thought how the heck can I contribute? Yes I could donate money, but as rich as we are(compared to them)  that needs to go to bills unfortunately.  So I come up with a better idea.  I will use my resources and sell one of my collages!

I found out if you list on Ebay you can set the amount of the sale proceeds to go to your favorite charity.  So I did!  I listed the piece you see above called fairy tales, and 100% of the profit will go to Unicef!  I'm very excited about this and truly hope this piece sells.  If you like what you see, and would like to buy it please wander over to my Ebay listing.

I sure hope it sells!!  Oh and I really want to get a group of artists together to sell 1 piece of their art on Ebay and donate the funds to Unicef.  I think it would be such an awesome way to band together as artists and give a little something to those who are less fortunate.  If anyone is interested let me know!!

5 comments:

Rebecca Anthony said...

I will look into this Michelle, I can't wait to get that movie now!

Ophelia said...

I agree...thanks for posting this!!!

chrissy said...

thank you so much for this post. just last night 2 of my children and i were watching one of those television commercials where a young child is in a torn t-shirt, gathering dirty water in a leaky cup to give to his siblings, his parents are both no longer living and this family lives on the streets. it REALLY hit my children.s hearts. all at once they realized how blessed we are. i would love to have them HELP me create a piece of art to participate in your ebay sale. i think it would be a wonderful way to teach them and also humble myself at the same time.
count "us" in.
c

jasperandblue said...

I'll have to check out the movie, I love the piece and what a great idea to donate a fave charity, I have a few. I'm not selling anything yet< I'm still trying to figure out etsy, and I have no clue how to navigate ebay... I'll get there soon , I guess.

Elizabeth said...

Michele, Thank tou for sharing your feelings with us. I will definetedly watch that movie this weekend. It is a very good idea to donate for charities. I will check that and of course I want to be part of it.

I received, yesterday afternoon. the beautiful print Dreamer. Thank you so much. I will have it framed ASAP and will hang it in a special place in my house. Maybe in my studio and office, beside my collage originals, where I am most of the time these days!

Thank you so so much for your kindness!!