In 2013, my wife, Sandy, and I were invited by the US State Department's Art in the Embassies program to give master classes on how to create smoke paintings in Kyrgyzstan.  I had carefully prepared a step-by-step demonstration on how to use the smoke from a candle to block out big shapes, how to control tone and how to sculpt a few edges with Q-tips and kneaded eraser to create the illusion of realism.  The students listened politely and then promptly ignored everything I said and proceeded to create wonderful "smoke & fire" paintings. 

I was not surprised that they did fine work although they had never tried this strange medium before.  The faculty were all Russian-trained and their students were extremely well trained in the fundamentals of drawing and painting.  I visited many classes and was greatly impressed by the skill and creativity of the students.

The ambassador, Pamela Spratlen, held a reception in Sandy's and my honor at her residence.  She invited several artists, professors, journalists and heads of cultural foundations.  The Kyrgyz artists invited me to go with them to mountain villages and paint with them en plein air.  They said that I could easily pass as an ethnic Kyrgyz except I smiled too much.

Sandy and I had a wonderful time.  We had wide-ranging discussions on such topics as increasing income disparity around the world, the rise of fundamentalism and ways we might use art to promote world peace.  Two young high school students showed us a large painting they had created showing Martin Luther King releasing the doves of peace.

I was recently invited again by the Art in the Embassies program to display my smoke paintings in Uzbekistan.