 You know what time is it. Our first guest is in studio. She's a young lady. She goes by the name Lisa Maria. She's a charcoal artist and a founder, a CEO at a very young age and a student as well. Staki kudailuti manenu sana. She tells us all about herself, about her art and inspire young people out there. Sawa, sawa. Welcome to the show. Thank you. How are you? I'm good. Nasa kuchaziwa. Ngubamo jaivi. Toshangam sheki. Ima you're good. Nisa minyash. Nisa minyash. Right now, sayi sayi as we speak. Do you have any Kenyan song on your phone? On your playlist? Yeah. Which one? Me ni... Um, let's see, madam. I have a whole playlist of gengeton. No one. I see why. Anyway, welcome to the show. Kindly introduce yourself and tell us a bit about yourself. Okay. My name is Lisa Maria. I'm a charcoal artist. Ashmatenski dogoko. Relax. I mean, Jay Quart University. I'm in second year. And yeah, I study architecture. I'm also the founder of Marie Arts Kenya. It's still growing, but yeah. Pole pole. Okay. So, charcoal. I'm doing charcoal art. Is it something that you started way back in the days? Am I something that you just started recently? I was an artist from a very young age, but I discovered charcoal art in 2018. I didn't know it existed before that. So yeah, I fell in love with charcoal art and I decided that's what I want to do. But I can also do pencil art. I can also paint. But I just go with charcoal. So what is it about charcoal art that you find very interesting? What captured your eye about charcoal art? You said that you can draw, you can paint, you can do pencil art. But why charcoal? I like charcoal because it's dark. How dark this drawing is? Just literally dark. Not you know. No, the drawing is literally dark. It brings out some really good contrast when you have shadows and lights. The whites and the black really comes out when you use charcoal more than pencil. You said you started in 2018 and now it's 2020. How long did it take you to master the art nicely and actually do something that you can be proud of? It wasn't that hard considering I was an artist before that. And I myself thought I was an artist. So it wasn't that hard to discover. So I just had to learn that when you use pencil, you first do the light parts and then you do the dark parts. When you use charcoal now you do the dark parts and then you start adding the light parts. So that's the only big difference but other than that it wasn't that hard. So what tools do you use when you're doing your drawings? Just paper, charcoal and eraser. You have them right? Can you just show us? Okay, so paper you just get from a sketch pad. Just a normal sketch pad? Yeah, just a normal sketch pad. But you can also do charcoal art on canvas. I'm still working on how I can do that. And you can also combine it to acrylic paint. Interesting. And then I had to put them in a bag because you know where is my bag. So let me just put them here. This is what I used to blend in the charcoal. Oh, that's an eraser? Yeah, it's an eraser. Which is darker. And then this is just pieces of charcoal. Have you like sculpted them? No, you can buy them actually. Oh, you can buy them. You can do all of them. This one is a bit more refined so it's a bit easier to use. But you can use, for me mix both because I need a different shade of charcoal. What is this here? This is a spray. It's a sheen spray. But now when you draw using charcoal, you can just rub it off easily. So when you spray this and leave it to dry, it won't rub off. Like you won't just spray it. So what are some of the challenges that you've seen while doing your art? Well, doing my art. Maybe because it's a challenge, you don't think people understand how big art is because most people will say, ah, so you have friends. So you just draw for me. Yeah. For free. And you think, how do I sit down and draw a portrait of you for like seven hours and then I give you seven hours. It depends on the drawing. There's some that you take three hours, some two hours, some seven, some 24 depending on how big it is, the complexity here. So you know, when you sit down for like eight hours and then someone comes, you give me this for free. To spend a bit of a booty by the way. It's a war. Other than that, what other challenges have you encountered? It's not that, because since charcoal is easy to find. So the materials are easily accessible. The materials are accessible. Maybe getting frames, frames are a bit expensive out there. So we are getting affordable frames that actually look good. Because you know, it has to look good on the wall. So for maybe whatever we have here, what are the price ranges for your art? For my art, this is an A3 portrait of me. So if you want that, you can do it for you at about 7000 bob. Then if it's like per extra head, now you add a thousand bob. So if you are a couple, it will be 8000. Yes. There are three people like that. This one is an owl. For this one, I'll charge 6000. Because it's a bit easier compared to a human face. And this is a lion. So it depends on whatever you're drawing, the size and what else. Just what you need. If it's a portrait or if you want me to do a landscape or a butterfly. It depends on the complexity. And then ultimately size. Who is the hardest? Okay, maybe not the hardest. But what are some of the difficult clients? What are some of those difficult things that clients want you to do? You know, when people want portraits, there are different types. There are some that are in pencil, in color. So you find some uncovering thing you want a portrait. But I do charcoal art. But they don't understand that. So you'll say, okay, so I want my shirt in blue and my words. And there's no blue charcoal. And there are charcoal arts. Wait, they know that you're doing charcoal art. But they want blue shirt. Maybe colored something. Colored something. But I do at times incorporate the color. But that will be a bit more expensive. Because now I have to go buy colored pencils. And figure out how to work it out with charcoal. Okay. But clients are really not that difficult to work with. They try to be as open-minded as they can. Okay. So you're in school and studying architecture. Yes. Right now people are not in school as much. But I understand that universities are still studying online. So how do you balance the time to draw and the time to study as well? I guess it just comes because drawing is easy for me. It's something I really love to do. You know the way you can just like cooking. So you get bored, you get tired of reading. And say, let me go cook something. No, for me it's a get tired sense. And let me draw something. I end up drawing almost daily. If I don't draw in a day, maybe the next day I'll do two. Because it's something that's in ways. If one takes you seven hours and you have to study in between maybe and you might do two in a day. I like drawing more than books. So you're the type of people in class when the shower is teaching you just drawing sketches. Who's going to have it? We'll see you. How are your parents taking your art and then you're still studying? My parents are really okay with it. They're very excited about it as long as I can balance. But they're very excited about it. They tell their friends and their very supporters. So tell us about your company. My company is Mari Atsuki. I just started it through Chakulat. But I just wanted to make Chakulat known. Because a lot of people have never had about it. So through Mari Atsuki I want to work with other Chakulatis and bring them out and make them known. And then now have different avenues of Chakul because I've told you there's acrylic and all that. And I also want to do various art galleries around the country. Have you done any so far? Not yet. But I might open one next year. Okay. You're ambitious. Okay. I'll let you know. Yes please too. But my art galleries are going to be different. When you go to an art gallery it's usually just arts and sculptures and all that. But what I wanted to incorporate arts and something classy. So you can be something classy. Means when you're have you seen movies and people go to museums and they serve Hawaiian not dress in some way. Artists dress inyali. We were overalls when doing. I wanted people to feel art without feeling like a museum. I wanted them to experience it. Yeah. Interesting. So how many Chakulatis are you currently working with? Chakulatis I have around four. Around four. So far. And they're all doing really well. Actually I have a friend who used Chakulatis for the first time the other day. It's done really well. If someone wanted to be part of your team are there any requirements? No just text me. If you want to be an artist then you don't know how to do it. I'll teach you. Specifically Chakulatis Chakulatis So do you mind sharing maybe contact details where they can text you? Yeah you can you can get me on Instagram Facebook and YouTube at Mary at K.E. and on Twitter at Mary Lisa. Yeah and you can email me at Mary at K.E. at jimmy.com and I'll have our websites www.maryart.com Yeah nice. So if you want to be part of a team that does Chakulatis you can contact her as you had her Instagram pages and you can get to grow and to grow your art right? So in the morning like you have had to kumulzawatu would you be best friends with someone you find very attractive? What do you think? I don't have a friend No Don't put it in the sense that you know there are people by the way who are extra attractive I would why not you would why not So Mika you and Mary say mozaab group Oh maybe Wako ishishi I have very attractive friends Very attractive friends So You can just acknowledge God's creation and you can acknowledge God's creation and you can acknowledge God's creation If you are too best I am finding a hard time Believing that bad opinion I am sure that you are on this other side Yes But there are people who are attracted to you You guys are close But there are people who are attracted to you There are many factors for the skia there are many factors that you consider to see how they think or the things they do That will make you attracted to them So in a sense what you are saying is Yes What Did you hear what you are saying This is what I am saying This is what I am thinking that Mika is an extend And you are saying that you are attractive Anyway Thank you so much for coming to this show Thank you for having me and we hope that your organization grows and we see more charcoal art and we see the colour next year Anyone you would like to shout out Just all my friends and my mom and my dad and my sister and yeah One last one before we wind up between timity dad and red son Who would you vote for I think I know your answer I don't know Who would you vote for Who's music do you find I would go for red son Because of the music, he is attractive or more watch Oh God I see So you can head over to us Facebook page Cast your vote You as well Yes Kuna link pali Facebook Today battle of the best is between red son and timity dad So end up pali Facebook Kuna link apo Ita pileka Twitter And cast your votes So we are taking a short musical break Don't you go anywhere