Above is one of the artists we befriended in Watamu, Kenya, a young man who created a number of tingatinga paintings. Here he is shown with pieces by Hamadi, a Tanzanian artist. .

On our summer 2011 trip to Kenya and Ethiopia, we were delighted to discover Tingatinga Paintings, which first emerged in Tanzania in the 1960s. Edward Saidi Tingatinga, now deceased, began painting the bright images of African wildlife a decade or so after a similar art movement -- with whimsical animals, dot detail, and brilliant colors -- began in Haiti. Before his death, Tingatinga trained his sons and other artists, who now have trained additional artists in Tanzania and Kenya, to do the unique, primitive-style paintings.