"Portrait of Mave"  (For the 2020 Chimp Sanctuary NW on-line auction  between Sept  2- Sept 12, 2020)

https://hoot2020.afrogs.org/#/index

11" x 14"  Original oil painting on aluminum

I painted Mave in a lush setting to imagine her wandering about in nature.  Bless Chimp Sanctuary.  Thank you for giving these chimps a life of choices, comfort, good food and outdoor experiences and so much more.

From the CSNW website:

"Born 1989 in a laboratory. Celebrated birthday: May 27th

Mave arrived with Willy B and Honey B on August 18, 2019 after Wildlife Waystation in California announced it was closing and searching for homes for all of their residents.

Mave was born at the Laboratory for Experimental Medicine and Surgery in Primates (LEMSIP). When LEMSIP closed in 1996, Mave went to Wildlife Waystation along with over 30 other chimpanzees.

We’re still getting to know Mave, but she’s already surprising us. She is silly and playful and seemed to immediately relax into her new home at the sanctuary. She plays rough with Willy B and seeks out Honey B and Willy B for long grooming sessions."

I painted Mave in a lush setting to imagine her wandering about in nature.  Bless Chimp Sanctuary.  Thank you for giving these chimps a life of choices, comfort, good food and outdoor experiences and so much more.

"Beautiful Jo"  (For 2019 Chimp Sanctuary NW on-line auction)

12" x 9"  Original watercolor on 100% 140lb acid-free cotton rag.

I love Jody's contemplative gazes that are caught on camera.  For all I know, she may be constantly moving, but something serene and content is conveyed in her gaze, and a certain innocence.  Her close set eyes that look up down and all around endear her to me.

I wanted to paint something for CSNW that conveyed an expression these chimps could only have in a sanctuary and not where they came from.

Bless Chimp Sanctuary.  Thank you for giving these chimps a life of choices, comfort, good food and outdoor experiences and so much more.

"Sparkling Nutmeg"  (For 2019 Chimp Sanctuary NW on-line auction)

9" x 12" Original Colored Pencil & Watercolor on 100% 140lb acid-free cotton rag.

The inspiration for this painting was reading this blog entry:

From the CSNW blog:  "We’re still getting to know Nutmeg, the one steer who is part of our new cattle family. Somehow, he also has this young-at-heart innocence that was immediately apparent and has won us all over."

"Nutmeg dutifully ambles along after his mom Betsy, adoptive aunt Honey and more feisty cousin Meredith. Being a male born to a cow genetically bred for the dairy industry, he’s a big guy, but I don’t think he realizes his size."

It so endeared me to Nutmeg.  I thought this young-at-heart fellow emanates stars in his world.

"Friends Like Us"   (For 2019 Chimp Sanctuary NW on-line auction)

9" x 12" Original Watercolor on 100% 140lb acid-free cotton rag.

Reading through the blogs of CSNW, I noticed that Foxie and Burrito often like to play together.  I love reading about the chimps interacting because I know they lived so much of their lives isolated and unable to interact.  Burrito has a penchant for mouthing toys so when I got a glimpse of him with Foxie's hand in his mouth, I knew that was what I wanted to convey in the first painting I did of two of the CSNW chimps interacting.

You might wonder why the unconventional colors I used in this painting.  It was summer when I painted it, and I adore seeing the chimps have watermelon on  summer birthday parties.  And the winner of this painting will get to see that the green background is opalescent - shimmering and changing  from different vantage points - just like Foxie and Burrito.

The title, "Friends Like Us" has two meanings - that they can be friends so look at Friends Like Us!  and second, that CSNW has so many friends that keep the sanctuary going that at some level, they might know that Friends (of CSNW) like them, so they might exclaim, "Friends like us."

With love - to the Chimpanzees2

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