I am kind of discouraged after a week of experimenting with making oil paints using natural pigments and linseed oil. The conclusion of my experiments is that it doesn’t work. My pigments all come from soils and I was using linseed oil bought at the local hardware store. The linseed oil turns the pigment powders about five shades darker, and after a week, they still haven’t dried. Linseed oil is supposed to be a “drying oil” meaning that with oxidation a chemical change takes place turning the oil into a dry plastic-like solid. It’s a bit of a shame that this didn’t work since I have 4 liters of linseed oil sitting in our shed.

Yesterday was an absolutely increadible day. It was a I'm-so-glad-I'm-in-Malawi day.
Earlier last week Jon received a text message on his cell from a mysterious sender saying, "Hie Marissa - paintlady says be there Saturday26Aug". Which painter lady? Lilongwe or Mzuzu? Who sent this? I had so many questions, but we were hystarical with laughter because this baffled, utterly confused feeling has become such a part of life.

Eventually we found out that it was Isaac, a friend's housekeeper and my translator for art visits out to the villages. What a sweet person! He had set up a meeting for me to visit a family who paint murals on their house. This would be my second visit, this time I was hoping to learn how they make their paints and conceive their designs.