THE ARTIST LIFE: CONSERVATION AND ART
June 1, 2023
Many was the time I captured grasshoppers and lightning bugs in a jar. I wanted to keep them for my own amusement yet often they would die. I started to realize early on that perhaps this was not the thing to do.
The sound of a Red Wing Blackbird singing its song of “tomato, tomato, tomato” in the early spring dawn was contrasted, for me, with the body of a recently dead pigeon in the hot summer afternoon sun. My red eared turtle in its plastic habitat seemed to be strange to me when I viewed the smashed body of my box turtle who had escaped his enclosure and wandered into the street. As I grew older my heart would ache at the site of roadkill in city streets but rejoice at the sound of howling coyotes in the night at summer camp.
As the seasons changed, I relished each marvelous moment they would bring. Flowers of Spring, Green leaves of Summer, Colors of Autumn and Snowy days of winter. Each season had a smell and a feel. Spring smelled crisp and clean and new. Summer smelled musty and earthy. You could smell the colors of Autumn in the changing leaves. Winter smelled of frost, pine and smoky fires.
These things combined and so many more not listed here nourished and grew within my soul. The growth was not quick but my experiences with nature in my life laid fertile ground for my awareness and love of the world around us. This awareness found its way into my art and as my understanding of nature conservation increased so did the reflection of nature conservation find its way into my art.
Which brings us to a decision I have made to further integrate nature conservation into my art. If you have read this far then I need to ask for your help. I have decided to donate 10% of each painting or print that is of an Animal or Landscape theme to a Nature Conservation Fund and I would like your help in deciding which one.
Below are links to 3 different Conservation Funds. Please use this contact form https://artofthegypsy.artspan.com/contact to share your opinion on which one you think I should donate to and why.
