I don’t think I ever shared these here…
Last year, I did this series of three paintings for NOWzine, a book of comics and art by a large group of creators, exploring different conversations about our current place in history. I decided to focus on animals, so I did these three paintings of three very different animals from different parts of the world, who all particularly spotlight the imperative need for environmental care and conservation.
- The first painting is an actual portrait of Sudan, the last male northern white rhinoceros. His death in 2018 marked the official extinction of this species, and all remaining rhinos remain in danger from high levels of poaching, as these huge and magnificent animals are hunted extensively and unsustainably for their horns.
- The second painting is of a honeybee. Pollination by honeybees is essential to the reproduction of countless species of both wild and agricultural plants but corporate farming practices, rooted in short-term profits, threaten their numbers. As of this current moment, bees are not on the endangered species list, but vigilance is needed to ensure healthy bee populations.
- The third painting is of a polar bear. The effects of climate change can be seen most dramatically in the arctic, where a shrinking range of seasonal ice disrupts the hunting grounds of these large predators, causing both starvation of high numbers of the population, and the phenomenon of desperate bears traveling far beyond their normal ranges, in turn threatening other life forms, including humans.
Watercolor, 9 x 12 inches each
JoJo Seames, 2019
