A UFO finished. That always feel good.Several months ago I took a beginning art doll class with Beth Ann Williams and at the end of the class I took home a doll body on a wooden skewer.
She didn't tell me who she wanted to be so I put her with the rest of my UFO's and once in a while I'd run across her and still ....... nothing.
I spent 3 years living in Libya (before Kadaffi) and was evacuated out of there during the 6 day war in the 60's. We ended up going back there after 3 months in which my Sister Jean and her husband and family opened their already busy home to me and my 3 children. All of a sudden, while looking at an old newspaper picture of me and the kids arriving at the air port in New York, it dawned on me that Fatima was calling me from my UFO bin.
Starting at puberty the typical Libyan woman put on her baracan, allowing only one eye to be exposed whenever they were out of the home. They generally held it in their teeth, leaving their hands free to take care of their children or gather bundles of fire wood to carry on their heads or on the back of a donkey. Once in a while I'd catch a glimpse of them and what was under the baracan, especially when they would be on their way to a family wedding or other important event and I'd see a flash of their pretty clothes and jewelry or henna markings on their forheads when they passed. I used to give them aspirin for their occasional tooth aches and so they considered me a friend.
They would look around to make sure I was the only one who would see them and then release the baracan so that it opened and they would smile and wave and show off just a bit.
Such pretty, hard working women and girls that wore everything valuable to them under that simple covering.
So......meet Fatima. My art doll who finally spoke to me.
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