I’ve had many occasions to use my art for gifts among families.  These are mostly commissioned portraits, or in one case, portraits of my neighbor’s daughter’s favorite dollies.  My son loved a photograph taken at his wedding with the exception that the photographer didn’t get him smiling.  So I drew the portrait of him and his bride but I had the chance to put in that huge smile that appeared in all the other photos except for the one he planned to give to us to take back to the Middle East.  My aunt and mother enjoyed portraits I made of the family as we live all over the world and seldom get to see one another on a regular basis. All of these projects ended up as gifts which were unique and greatly appreciated by the recipients.

The “Camel Contemplating Emptiness” now lives in the Houston Zen Center with my dear friend, the abbot, Gaelyn Setsuan Godwin. It’s now a little piece of desert in Houston.

I also have the wonderful opportunity to volunteer with the Centre for Omani Dress whose mission statement is to preserve the national dress heritage of Oman.  For them I donated a watercolor of the Muttrah Souq (souq is a market) which they used on the cover of a map with shop guide that they sold as a fundraiser.  I also donated a watercolor of a dhow (a heritage fishing boat) which they used on a simpler map of the souq and they also sold that as a fundraiser.  It’s been a joy to lend my artistic insight to this organization.