Camel Herd
1986
oil, 24" x 32"

I cheated a bit in this painting, which depicts the desert area adjoining Lake Turkana in the north of Kenya. The herdsboy is a Samburu, ethnically and linguistically close to the Masai. Although their traditional homelands reach close to Lake Turkana, the Samburu are more cattle people than keepers of camels. This young man’s dress, posture and aloneness, however, seemed so appropriate to the stark surroundings and drab, dusty dryness of the camel herd.