Firstly I'd like to offer a warm welcome to those visiting my blog, I am thoroughly enjoying sharing news with you and I hope that you like my posts.
I wonder if any fellow artists feel the same as me - sometimes I feel that my best work is produced when I feel an emotional connection to the subject.
I definitely felt emotional watching the "Elephant Diaries" on television and indeed some members of our family found it too disturbing and sad to watch. The program is about orphaned baby elephants where, often its mother and family have been gunned down to serve the Ivory trade. In Nairobi, Kenya, a tiny Elephant Nursery, under the auspices of The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, offers hope for any orphaned elephant fortunate enough to be found alive.
Having painted the above baby elephant, who is being fed a bottle of special milk by a keeper, I emailed a photo of the painting to the Trust. Angela Sheldrick replied and asked if I would mind if my painting was sent as a gift as one of the monthly paintings sent to the foster parents of the elephants. Angela is an artist too and I was delighted to be able to help.
It's a truly amazing organisation and their website is wonderful: