Fashion retail icon and animal welfare advocate Otara Gunewardene will part with paintings from her collection to raise funds for her pet cause Embark, one of the best known cause-related brands cum personal community projects in the country.

The paintings will go on display and sale at the Barefoot Gallery, Colombo 3, from Friday, 6th to Sunday, 8th November. All proceeds will go towards the purchase of a vehicle for Embark’s projects to rehabilitate and re-home Sri Lanka’s ubiquitous stray dogs.

“I have decided to use part of my collection for a good cause,” said Ms Gunewardene. “I hope this will also bring greater awareness of what Embark is trying to achieve.”

The paintings (price on request) are by artists Sanjeewa Kumara, Druvinka Madawala and Chamilia Gamage. The Barefoot Gallery at 704, Galle Road, Colombo 3, will be open from 10 am to 7pm on Saturday 7th November and from 11 am to 5 pm the following day.

An Embark information kiosk will be manned at the Gallery during the exhibition and sale to disseminate information on the project.

Embark was launched in March 2007 as a personal community project of Otara Gunewardene, the founder and CEO of ODEL, Sri Lanka’s definitive fashion and lifestyle retail chain. The project’s aim is to reduce cruelty to animals and promote animal wellbeing through a series of activities including sterilization surgeries and puppy re-homing campaigns, caring for injured stray animals and educating the public about the importance of animal welfare.

Since its inception, Embark has helped change the mentality and thinking patterns of the community by encouraging love of community animals. The project has to date sterilized nearly 2300 strays in 13 campaigns.

Embark is funded principally by the sale of a popular and fast growing range of fun clothing, accessories and pet products that bears the same brand name. Uniting fashion and animal welfare, the Embark collection consist hundreds of items including T shirts and sweaters, kids’ and toddlers’ clothing, headwear and slippers, jewellery and accessories such as necklaces, bracelets, earrings, pendants, ties and cufflinks, bags, stationery, soft toys, mugs, key chains, photo albums and frames, wind chimes and fridge magnets and bowls, toys, food, leashes and harnesses, beds and accessories for pets.

screening is on saturday the 24th at 7:30pm

To celebrate his opening night, Alex brings the global sounds of the Flying Carpet.

The Flying Carpet is an irregular club night that Alex and friends put on in London featuring amazing live music from around the world and featuring Alex as DJ. He has played at many London clubs and festivals around the

UK. South American Cumbia, African Hi Life, Reggae mashups, Salsa, Tropical remixes and much much more are mixed up for a global dancefloor party.

This is the soundtrack to Alex’s paint studio and to the parties at the Flying Carpet, and tonight brought to the magical garden at Barefoot.

Exhibition open to public from 2nd-18th october.

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Pedro Carneiro – Piano, Caca Guifer – Flute & Saxophones, Ricardo Sá Reston – Bass, Roberto Kauffmann – Drums, Davi Mello – Guitar

The Brazilian Jazz Band

ACURI

on Saturday 29th August 2009
at 7.30 pm
Tickets : Rs. 500/= each
available at the Barefoot Shop & the Gallery officeTel: 2505559

from September 2nd-20th 2009.

I know you know
where love lies
not in hearts that are heavy
with depression
or some malaise
but in the soul underneath
the heavy trappings of emotion
waiting
to be released
if only for a moment
to kiss your face

*a longer version of this poem was written as”for Dom 24.07. 2009′ and posted on another blog.

Cultivate the habit of surveying and testing a prospective action before undertaking it. Before you proceed, step back and look at the big picture, lest you act rashly on raw impulse. Determine what happens first, consider what that leads to, and then act in accordance with what you’ve learned. When we act without circumspection, we might begin a task with great enthusiasm; then when unforeseen and unwanted consequences follow, we shamefully retreat and are filled with regret:. By considering the big picture, you distinguish yourself from the mere dabbler, the person who plays at things as long as they feel comfortable or interesting. This is not noble. Think things through and fully commit! Otherwise, you will be like a child who sometimes pretends he’s a wrestler, sometimes a soldier, sometimes a musician, sometimes an actor in a tragedy. Unless we fully give ourselves over to our endeavors, we are hollow, superficial people and we never develop our natural gifts. We’ve all known people who, like monkeys, mimic whatever seems novel and flashy at the moment. But then their enthusiasm and efforts wane; they drop their projects as soon as they become too familiar or demanding. A half-hearted spirit has no power. Tentative efforts lead to tentative outcomes. Average people enter into their endeavors headlong and without care. Perhaps they meet with an exemplary figure like Euphrates and become inspired to excel themselves. It is all well and good to do this, but consider first the real nature of your aspirations, and measure that against your capacities. Be honest with yourself. Clearly assess your strengths and weaknesses. Do you have what it takes to compete at this time? It is one thing to wish to be a champion or to do something skillfully; it is another to actually do it and to do it with consummate skill. Different people are made for different things. Just as certain capacities are required for success in a particular area, so too are certain sacrifices required. If you wish to become proficient in the art of living with wisdom, do you think you can eat and drink to excess? Do you think you can succumb to anger and your usual habits of frustration and unhappiness? No. You will have to overcome many unhealthy cravings and knee-jerk reactions. You will have to reconsider whom you associate with. Are your friends and associates worthy people? Does their influence—their habits, values, and behavior—elevate you or reinforce the slovenly habits you wish to escape? The life of wisdom, like anything else, demands its price…You can only be one person—either a good person or a bad person. You have two essential choices. Either you can set yourself to developing your reason, cleaving to truth, or you can hanker after externals. The choice is yours and yours alone. You can either put your skills to internal work or lose yourself to externals, which is to say, be a person of wisdom, or follow the common ways of the mediocre.
-Epictetus

Kaffirs Show 27th, originally uploaded by nazreen.sansoni.