“Roy”, African chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes), Signed and Numbered, Limited Edition Giclée Archival Prints (run of 50).

Description

I am donating 25% of the proceeds from original and print/NFT sales to the Ol Pejeta Chimp Sanctuary at Sweetwaters, Nanyuki

Chimpanzees are great apes found across central and West Africa. Along with bonobos, they are our closest living relatives, sharing 98.7 percent of our genetic blueprint. Humans and chimps are also thought to share a common ancestor who lived some seven to 13 million years ago.

Roy has been at Ol Pejeta since December, 2009, when he was only a few months old. Ol Pejeta, in the “Meet The Chimps” section of their website has this to say about Roy.

Gender: Male
DOB: 2009
Origin: Democratic Republic of Congo
“Roy was rescued from Rumbek, southern Sudan on 2nd October 2009 and was housed at the KWS quarantine facility for health monitoring and observation. He was then transferred to the Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary on 14th December 2009. He is believed to have originated from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, probably orphaned by the illegal bushmeat trade and illegally transported to southern Sudan. He was confiscated by the Wildlife Conservation Administration of Sudan and handed over to volunteers who cared for him while a sanctuary was identified to transfer him to. Roy has adapted wonderfully at Sweetwaters and is a happy and healthy chimpanzee. He is undaunted and this has elevated him to the position of a senior male within a very short time, very playful making friends easily and is extremely good friends with Romeo.” – from the Ol Pejeta Chimpanzee Sanctuary website.

I have been planning this work since 2017 when I took the reference photo of Roy during a visit to the chimp sanctuary at Sweetwaters, operated by Ol Pejeta. Roy had been sharing food with his friend Romeo and was enjoying a quiet moment of repose. I liked the lighting and was captivated by his pensive expression.

This is. for me, a rare multimedia piece, in which I used pen and ink to define facial wrinkles, watercolor to lay in the basic painting, with wet-on-wet bleeds and multiple coats of glaze, aquarelle colored pencils to highlight the minuscule pebbled wrinkles of his face and gouache to pick out individual hairs.

To see painting details and to read about the conservation of these owls, check out the artwork in my “Gallery” section