Chatham -- Real Art, Real Close*: June 2012

Saturday, June 9, 2012

A Memory of Kenya at the Joyful Jewell

Photo of Cheetahs

When I was working at the Population Council in the 1980s, I spent a lot of time in East Africa. On one trip, my business partner and I took our wives along, and we went on camera safari to the Masai
Mara on the border of Kenya and Tanzania. It was a wonderful experience for all of us. One morning, we came upon a mother cheetah with five babies. This was a remarkable opportunity, because cheetahs are solitary hunters, and sometimes females don't survive pregnancy. When they do, they seldom have litters of more than two or three. So to find a mom with five kits was exciting. I took several photos, and in one, I caught all five babies climbing over momma.

I recntly decided to do a painting of this moment, using my photo as reference. As you can see in my photo, one of the babies was just behind the mother's head. In my painting, I had this kit stand up straight. Also, in my photo, mom had her eyes closed as she licked the ear of the baby in front of her. It my painting, I opened her eyes and had her stare out toward the viewer.

Masai Mara Momma, a painting in watercolor and colored pencil

The painting is 16 by 20 inches using watercolor and colored pencil on paper. It was matted and framed by Galerria, using museum glass.

I am currently featuring this new painting, called Masai Mara Momma, at the Joyful Jewell in downtown Pittsboro.