Original Artwork By Artist Tessa Edwards

S H I K A M U U !

... To A World Less Ordinary!

From the very beginning my world has been imbued with art, literature, poetry, music and travel. My amazing parents gave my sister and I a life filled with colour and adventure. As children we wild skied in the Black Mountains of the tiny kingdom of Lesotho, galloped across the thorn tree strewn Athi Plains in Kenya alongside herds of zebra and sailed past the very tip of Africa where the warm waters of the Indian Ocean meet the icy Atlantic. All this while living on the slopes of Table Mountain, nestled amongst the vineyards and oaks of the Fairest Cape in all the world.

Then I met an English boy who had driven to the Cape from London. Down through Spain they rattled and shook in their old Landie. Across the straits to Morocco and then into the desert; through Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, the Sudan, Kenya and Zimbabwe until finally reaching Cape Town. I married him.

Two extraordinarily beautiful daughters later, we left South Africa. The boy in the Land Rover took us to Nigeria, Hong Kong, Australia, the Virgin Islands, Kenya and Uganda. Together we have sailed on a Junk across the South China sea, plunged into the snake invested waters of the crystal clear Inkotapeni River in Nigeria and experienced an awesome, life affirming encounter with the gorillas of the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest in Uganda. We have danced the horse-chip in a kaleidoscopic swirl of islanders at a Caribbean carnival, dived the crystalline depths of the Great Barrier reef and swayed tipsily under the palms at a Full Moon party at the Bomba Shack on Tortola.

We've eaten grasshoppers and matoke; shared a shark feast with dhow fishermen on Zanzibar and drunk pungent putu beer with a witchdoctor in Swaziland. We've had dinner on a deserted beach with champagne, crisp linen and candelabra to celebrate Mandela's release from the shackles of oppression and tentatively tackled crocodile tail stew on a pontoon while floating up a shimmering path of moonlight on Lake Jakana.

We've swam in emerald crater lakes under the towering peaks of the Mountains of the Moon with a hippo mama and her baby; paddled past snoozing Nile crocodiles in dugout canoes and spent a Christmas under canvas amongst the lions in Kidepo National Park on the border of war-torn Sudan and Uganda. Together, we have white-water rafted at the source of the Nile, walked with buffalo and elephant in Semliki and seen the strange orange glow of a leopard's eyes caught in the spotlight of the game ranger's truck on a night drive.

Across the vast, sun bleached savannah of the Serengeti we went, trailing clouds of dust and tsetse flies. We've peered over the lip of the Ngorogoro Crater and stared up at the snow capped peak of Mount Kilimanjaro etched against the startling blue of an African sky. We've listened to the haunting cry of a fish eagle, laughed at the antics of acrobatic colobus monkeys; seen the speed and skill of a cheetah bringing down a buffalo and smelled the heady perfume of night jasmine on the velvety air of the tropics. We've reached up and touched the stars at Lake Turkana and watched the moon make silvery mercury of a water hole as the shy Bongo came down to drink.

Above all, it is the people we've met on our travels. People who have experienced bloody civil war, yet smile with a warmth that reaches the very heart of you. People who have lived under oppressive regimes, yet sing in soaring harmony. Those whose families have been desecrated during onslaughts of horrifying genocide, yet still reach out with love and forgiveness. Children whose eyes light up when given a pencil to take to their little school under the sparse shade of an acacia tree...

That is why I paint. For me, it is a celebration of life and through my art I endeavour in some small way to encapsulate the essence, the spirit and the strength of the exceptional people I have been so very privileged to meet.

Please email, if you'd like more information about my work.

Best Regards - Tessa

I'm A Member Of These eBay Groups:

ACEO ~ Art Card Editions & Originals... I'm proud to be a Mod in the group that founded the ACEO movement on eBay! Our group has a monthly, themed contest known as "Theme Week". The contest begins on the 1st of each month... please search ACEO TW anytime between the 1st and the 7th, to see that month's entries. This is a great opportunity to bid on Original ACEO Artwork, starting at just $4.99!

Year's Best ACEO Awards ~ ACEO YBA... Is an eBay Group, that was founded by ACEO artists and collectors, to create a brand new ACEO awards program. If you are an ACEO artist, collector or enthusiast... and you'd like to judge or compete in the yearly ACEO YBA, please visit our Me Page, to find out more. We also have threads in our eBay Group, where you may promote your eBay Stores and listings... and we're always happy to welcome new members!

Then... we have the ACEO YBA Monthly Challenge! This is an ACEO art contest, based on a different category from the ACEO YBA, each month. Please search ACEO YBA MC from the 15th through the 21st, to see this month's entries. Then... our buyers will cast their votes, by bidding on the artwork they admire the most. When the auctions are over, the artwork with the highest number of unique bidders will receive an award for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place!

These Are My ACEO Art Projects & Awards:

I designed the cover for the 2008 ACEO Cookbook: Art On A Plate. I won 1st Place for Small Format Folk Art, in the 2007 Artists' Choice Awards. I contributed to the first ACEO Playing Card Deck in 2008.

"ACEO" Stands for :  Art Cards - Editions and Originals

Historically... Artist Trading Cards (or ATC's), were 2.5" x 3.5" original works of art (traded only amongst artists). An ACEO is exactly the same thing, but they are intended for sale rather than trade. The ACEO acronym was created, to separate ACEOs from ATC's... out of respect for those who believe that ATC's should be for trade only. ACEOs provide a venue for artists to sell their small works and for the public (including non-artists) to collect these wee masterpieces.

ACEOs have one main rule... they measure 2.5" x 3.5" (the size of a standard trading card or ATC). They are always this size, no exceptions. These highly collectible cards are as varied in theme, composition and materials as are larger works of art. They will fit in most trading card albums, sleeves and frames... which makes them easy to handle, display, trade or store. ACEOs are a fun and affordable way, to collect and trade original works of art!

ACEOs may be Originals (paintings, drawings, etc...) or they may be Editions (limited or open edition prints). Make sure you read the item listing carefully and know whether you will be buying an Original or an Edition. If it's an Edition... it should be signed and numbered by the artist.

Each time you purchase an ACEO... you are helping to support a self-representing artist. For more information... please visit: www.Art-Cards.org or search ACEO, for some of the finest small art on eBay!