First, allow me to introduce myself as an artist and as a member of the “Natural Language Institute” community. Five years ago, I quit my teaching profession and created my greatest masterpiece: my son. I also began painting more than I ever did in my life. I am a self-taught artist and have never had formal training. I like to paint with oils and acrylics, but I also enjoy and dabble in many other modalities of arts

As for “Natural,” I have been a part of this community for a long time. In 2012, my photography went up on the walls of the offices and classrooms of the Institute, and my photographs still adorn that space. In 2013, I managed the publication of the Introductory-level Natural English book. I enjoyed this work, and was happy to put my Master’s degrees in Education and in Linguistics to good use. Now, in 2020, I am a student of the Institute’s, taking online advanced-level Spanish with an excellent Chilean teacher.

Now I’d like to jump right into talk about art, so I will share a painting of a giant anteater, Brazil’s endemic, beautiful, and prehistoric creature.

The anteater is part of a series of paintings of the Cerrado that I worked on from 2017 to 2019. I intend to expand my collection of Cerrado paintings, so occasionally I still paint a new one. The whole series is oil on canvas, and the paintings vary from the fauna or flora in its natural habitat, or superimposed on a kind of Victorian wallpaper background. Below is another painting executed in a similar style to the anteater.

In these paintings I wanted to take something very rustic and overlooked, and elevate its status by associating it with luxury. The anteater and the cashew fruit are very special to me. I love my memories of picking little cashews straight from the trees and filling my belly until my teeth hurt with the acidity of the fruit. And the day I saw a giant anteater in the wild, in the Cerrado, will forever be imprinted in my mind.

You see, I was born in Corumbá de Goiás, the closest town with a hospital to where my parents lived at the time: a small ranch in the municipality of Cocalzinho. As a child, I thought nothing special of it – it was just home. I moved to the United States when I was five years old, and as I grew up, returned to the farm on many occasions. Every time, I fell more and more in love with the Cerrado. Nobody in the U.S. knew what I was talking about, so I didn’t talk about it much. But the Cerrado inspired me to paint.

You can see more paintings of the Cerrado on my website, artwiththehart.weebly.com.parents livedparents livedparents livedparents livedparents livedparents livedparents livedparents livedparents livedparents livedparents lived Please do visit, and leave a note if you like.