I just returned from three weeks in Indonesia where I worked on the Hungku Water Project and continued to paint adding to the "Storm Series" and Jembaran Bay "Fish Series". In Irian the Water Project is under way. The missionary with the funds will be in the Arfak Mountains with Chief Mose Saiba for two months and supervise the work of the engineer who has designed the project. I'll hope to have a progress report in December. We have six of the twenty thousand dollars required for this project, but this is encouraging to the tribe.

The documentary on the Bower Birds in Hungku, "The Clever One" was shown on a wide screen to a small group in Ubud, Bali who have met and aided the Irian Chief Moses Saiba. It was met with enthusiasm especially by the children who also share a love of birds. Hopefully, it will be on P.B.S. soon.

Five New canvases for the "Fish" and "Storm" were removed from their canvas stretchers in Ubud and now await re-stretching on their US standard equivalents.

I take pleasure welcoming my friends when they often return with their family and friends to tour my house. They are usually speechless. Some call it a living museum, for me it's where I live and cultivate my passions. It's where I find "inspiration", where I "create" my art and where I "meditate".

My House has been in several publications. One of these are Obsessions : Collectors and Their Passions, by Mitchell Beazley Interiors; Stephan Calloway (Available at Amazon.com and Goodreads.com). If you are in France in October look for the newest one Houses around the world by Deidi Von Schaewen.

I started a non profit organization (501C3) named The Hungku Water Project to help Chief Moses Saiba and his tribe of New Guinea bring fresh water to their village in the Arfak Mountains so they can maintain their land and continue to live on it. Aggressive mining and lumber companies are working their way to the land's natural resources and thus to the destruction of this environment and its many unique species of birds, plants and insects. If the tribe is able to stay, this land and they will prosper. If you would like to donate to this cause please send a check to:

Moses Saiba Account

31 Circle St

Marblehead, MA 01945

My daughter and grand daughter have convinced me I must enter the 21st century if I want to promote the Bower Bird project or The Hungku Water Project as it's now known. They've created an email address, MJMcConnellArt@gmail.com, and are working on a website (coming soon). I am just focusing on my artwork after my trip to The Gettysburg Festival in June, where I showed my Bower Bird paintings for the first time. I am also planning my annual trip to The Arfak Mountains of Indonesian New Guinea to visit Chief Moses Saiba and to continue studies of the Bower Bird while painting. I am also selling some work at Ditto Editions, http://www.myprints.biz/ then enter artist name, please take a look.