Hello!I’ve been meaning to share what I’ve been up to over the past few days. I have been painting a lion for the Pride of Kenya event, which is being organised by the Born Free foundation to raise awareness about the plight of Kenya’s lions and the need for their conservation.
Of course as an insect-lover you can guess what I painted on my lion…
The entire surface of the lion is covered in details from Kenyan butterflies and a few other bugs. There are a couple of pollinators – who are some of my favourite organisms and so important to farming and the survival of ecosystems.
There are also a few ticks and ants hidden here and there on the lion. This will be a small fun activity for children to locate all the ticks and ants that are on the lion.Painting one of the butterflies was done in honour of George Adamson and his incredible work for lion conservation throughout his life. The small, humble blue butterfly in the middle of the picture below is of a species that was found at Kora, where George Adamson lived his last years. This butterfly had been named in honour of him, Leptotes adamsoni.
I’ve gotten several requests for better views of the lion. Therefore, here is my amateur attempt at this by taking a video while walking around the lion and the result is below. Please enjoy the Butterflion and in appreciating the beauty and intricacy of these creatures spare a thought for all the wonderful animals and plants that we share the planet with and who need all the help they can get today to survive. And remember, without them our own survival on this fragile planet is tenuous.[kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/3fuBnL7YVP4″ width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
Absolutely beautiful. George would be touched by your special blue butterfly.
Simply beautiful!
Really gorgeous! Very nice work.
What is all the banging noise in the background and are those geese?
s.
Wow Dino – you’re such a geek! Cant believe you got video up! The geese sound totally excited about the butterflion – Sheryl what you hear is only a snippet of the menagerie at Dino’s place, and the banging is the workers making other pieces of stunning art at Kitengela Glass – it must have been a riot when the census people came by to count chickens, rabbits, pigs, cows, goats, sheep, camels, turkeys, geese, ducks, dogs, ostriches, horses, donkeys, mules, …what else have I missed – baboons, hyraxes, crocodiles, hippos, zebra, gazelles, impalas.. and lots of bugs
oh soo sweet. How beautiful is this cat..this whole concept. It just blows my mind!
Where’s the video?
Mimi says “pretty. where is Dino?”