CLICK HERE TO ORDER YOUR COMMISSIONED PORTRAIT PENDANT
RIGHT FROM THE NEW WEBSITE AT THE GRAFFITI GOSSIP BLOG!
“TUKEE” owned and commissioned by Jan Lockhart ,Arizona USA.
Beadwork is porcelain raku beads, handmade lampwork and vintage Czech Republic beads
I am having such an awesome time getting to you know you all through the portrait commissions I have been doing of your show dogs and canine companions. I thought you might like to see a couple of them I have recently finished.
YOU CAN SEE MORE EXAMPLES OF COMMISSIONED WORK HERE
THE MODEL WAS BEAUTIFUL MISS TUKEE…Thank you Jan!
“SOPHIA” owned and commissioned by Claudia Murara in Brazil.
Claudia, I met through Facebook (I HEART FACEBOOK) and she asked me to create her girl “Sophia” surrounded by Bird of Paradise flowers in vibrant hot tones. Just like her brilliant and HOT Brazilian personality. I wanted to share with you below the sweet video she did for me,showcasing her pendant and painting I also did of Sophia. THANK YOU CLAUDIA!!! I will always treasure this incredible video
My heartfelt thoughts go to you and Sophia right now following Sophia’s recent surgery. BIG HUGS Claudia!!!
BELOW YOU WILL FIND 2 NEW TSHIRT DESIGNS I CREATED AND DONATED TO
PANDAS INTERNATIONAL…. CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE
The link takes you directly to the PI website I sooooooo hope these two shirts can bring in tons of money for the pandas and a huge THANK YOU to Suzanne and the entire PI crew for the wonderful teamwork in getting these designs to press!! As always a PANTASTIC experience with a truly professional and caring non profit!!!!!
THE SHIRT BELOW HAS A FRONT AND BACK DESIGN
And finally …..You have seen him in the trees,…..You hear him in the woods…..his tell”tail” clicking of stones as he hops from branch to branch…
YES YOU GOT IT……….HE’S “STONED BINDI BIRD”
CLICK THE PHOTO TO FIND THIS ONE OF A KIND FUSED GLASS AND STONE PENDANT IN THE STORE.
Dont miss the video of stoned bindi bird on the page as well!
As my regular blog readers know, my return trip to Animals Asia Foundation in Chengdu China was filled with a roller coaster of emotions, ranging from deep sadness to sheer joy for the rescued bears. CLICK HERE to read the previous post I did from China for a refresher.
I took almost 2000 images in one day’s time and hours of HD video to document the moonbears and Jills program for my artwork, book and calendars etc which I will be doing to benefit AAF in months to come. In the video you will see some very uplifting footage I took of bears no longer in pain that remind us why our help is so desperately needed.
The first in this series of Tshirt designs inspired by those images is now available in my Zazzle store with 100% of the profit going to AAF to help BEFRIEND A BEAR (or 2 or 3 or 100 if we can do it!) The video above I created to promote the shirt but more importantly to promote AAF and the incredible work they do.
When I asked Jill “what can I do” to best help AAF, her answer was quick and to the point. “Get the word out about the moonbears”. So that is what I plan to do and I would like to enlist your help in this mission. Heres how to do it
- 1. POST THE VIDEO LINK BELOW TO YOUR FACEBOOK WALL
- Cut and paste the text between the brackets ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgSrzmsi6Xk )
- 2. PLACE A COMMENT ON THIS BLOG POST WITH A LINK TO YOUR FACEBOOK WALL POST
- 3. YOU WILL NOW BE ELIGIBLE TO WIN ONE OF THESE T-SHIRTS IN A DRAWING 6/1/10 (Only US residents eligible..a postage cost thang)
- IF YOU ARE NOT A FACEBOOK MEMBER, SHARING THIS BLOG POST OR VIDEO WITH YOUR WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS WOULD STILL BE A FANTASTIC WAY TO SPREAD THE WORD
THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT AND MOONBEAR LUV!!
Happy Sunday everyone. I’m out of town at the moment and not able to do much emailing so I decided to do a quick blog post here thanking all of you who responded so quickly to my update about the Bai Xue adoption outreach!! Thanks to all our ‘den’ members we have reached the $500.00 for our adoption of this dear old girl via Pandas International.
As soon as I return home in a few days I will be emailing all the participants with details. Carrie at PI has been informed of our great success and will be pulling together the paperwork for us soon too!! THANK YOU ONE AND ALL!!!
ABOVE: FOUNDER OF ENP “LEK” heading out to mingle with her herd….dogs in tow looking for a few treats to drop from her bag
As long as I’m here……I couldn’t resist posting a few of my hundreds of photos from Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai Thailand. Instead of focusing on the Ellies…..these images feature just a few the canine members of the ENP family which for the most part were rescues .
Another handsome dog who loved to play billie goat on the picnic tables.
Bill…..This was the dog I said you would like….isn’t he lovely????? Such expressive eyes
This was the SADDEST expression I had ever seen. It was siesta time in the hot afternoon when I took most of these shots and the dogs were saving their energy…..very still and easy to photograph!
This is Mookie!! The most distinguished dog at ENP with his dapper beard! Mookie just had a bubble bath in the river and was drying off in the shade and rubbing his face all over the wood floors. What a character he was. I really wanted to take him home with me
As was on our last visit to ENP….the rescued creatures, great and small…..all getting along so well….healthy and safe under the wings of their volunteer angels and staff
If you have been trying to email me the past couple of days, I will be replying to all my emails today.
Big hugs from on the road!!! Sandra
IMAGINE MY SURPRISE WHEN I WAS NOTIFIED IN THIS MORNING’S EMAIL THAT THIS IMAGE I TOOK AT ELEPHANT NATURE PARK A FEW WEEKS AGO IS #332 IN FLICKR’S EXPLORE WHICH IS AMONG THE 500 PHOTOS CHOSEN BY FLICKR STAFF AS THE MOST INTERESTING PHOTOS OUT OF THE GABILLION LOADED BY MEMBERS THAT DAY!!!
The photo I call “LEKS SONG” is of Sangduen “Lek” Chailert who is the founder of Elephant Nature Foundation in Chiang Mai Thailand. This series of images were taken shortly after our orientation learning about how to navigate around the silent tippie toeing elephants as we enjoyed the rescue park for a full day of bathing , feeding, smooching and learning about these endangered beauties.
As a few others in our group of 10 were feeding some of the elephants (many more photos on the way) Gayle and I stood by the fencing to watch this scene in amazement. Lek slipped into the enclosure in silent elephant style, then sat under one of the two new babies and started to sing a sweet song in Thai to him. The song I chose for the video was not Lek but is a beautiful Hilltribe love song to highlight the mood of the day
I was mesmerized by this incredible human/elephant bond, and was lucky to have both my SLR and video camera on hand. This video below tells the very short story in photos and film how touching this priceless moment in time was. Lek and the baby were not 2 individual beings for those few minutes of bonding……..rather they were syncronized as ONE…moving in tandem…slowly to her sweet , soft song.
CLICK HERE TO SEE THIS VIDEO MUCH LARGER AND IN HIGH DEFINITION
or stay at the blog and click arrow below. There is audio with this video..ENJOY
ABOVE IS FOUNDER AND DIRECTOR OF AAF, JILL ROBINSON (AAF PHOTO)
These next two days are dedicated to the moonbears and the heros who work tirelessly on their behalf to save these beautiful animals from the torture of bile farming. Jill Robinson, the founder and director of AAF graciously agreed to set aside 2 days out of her insanely busy schedule to show us around and even let us sit in on any surgeries scheduled this week (bile drip catheter removals )
Photo AAF
On my list of humans who have touched my life as true heros , Jill Robinson would be among them…and WAY up on the tippy top of the list too!! Some people get weak kneed around movie stars or music artists………my idols are those like Jill and her staff who do work that not many of us could fathom ….their reward is some times no more than.a twinkle in the eye of a bear once entombed in a crush cage no bigger than the size of it’s body for it’s entire life! A tube in its abdomen dripping bile to sell at premium price as Chinese Traditonal Medicine
The metal harnesses and crush cage
When Diana and met our first moonbear Bam Bam at the Tiger Temple in Thailand in 2008 we were entranced. She was so beautiful and was found as an orphan on the Burma border and fostered to adulthood by the monks.
ABOVE IS BAM BAM AND DIANA FEEDING HER A BOTTLE OF MILK
Upon our arrival in Chengdu China about a week later, we were surfing the internet to find where we wanted our guide Mickal to bring us in town. Low and behold on a Google search we found Animals Asia Foundation and the words “moonbear rescue” after it. We asked Mickal first thing as he picked us up in the morning if he could find the place. Being the awesome guide he is and his driver Mr Li were on a mission!!!
ABOVE IS MANDALA…ONE OF THE GROUP ADOPTIONS WE DID THROUGH MY PANDARAZZI WEBSITE
After a couple of hours and a lot of pit stops asking the locals if they had heard of the place, WE FOUND IT!!! Only to be stopped at the gates by security personel that were fully prepared to turn us away (good security = safe moonbears). AAF is open by appointment and we were not on the schedule that day. There was a group of school children having a field trip that Saturday…yes the kids go to school 6 days a week. Mickal did some very good negotiating , and after showing our passports and getting the “ok” we were ushered into the Moonbear facility….THE REST IS HISTORY!!
My goal with the trip this year is to gather information and lots of photos and video to fill my photography book I am writing to benefit AAF called “Shoot for the Moon” which will be available this fall of 2010.
My aim in educating the public about moonbears is to give you all enough information to drive a passion to help , but not as much of the painful images to cause the tender hearted to turn a blind eye…. This is a charity that most certainly hurts the heart to face head on….and is very close to my own heart. Admitedly….even I can’t dwell on the powerful images of moonbears suffereing….. or I would be useless to rally others to the cause.
My art and photos are the positive energy that drive me to spend 2 days with one of my biggest heros ever and her beautiful bears!!! These next two days will most certainly be a roller coaster of emotions
Every single time I get an email saying “I didn’t know what a moonbear was until I met you” I break down and cry…all good tears of course, knowing the networking via my MISSION MOONBEAR is actually making a difference…one person at a time…and it all started with a litte bear named Bam Bam!!!
ABOVE IS A VIDEO I RECENTLY DID FROM MY 2008 AAF VISIT
Jill with Jane Goodall who named the above moonbear Mandala Photo AAF
ABOUT JILL ROBINSON
From Wikipedia
Jill Robinson is the Animals Asia Foundation Founder and CEO, Jill Robinson MBE, began tireless work within China after her horrific discovery of bear bile farming in 1993, resolutely building relationships and negotiating with government departments to bring an end to this cruel practice.
Jill’s dedication and skill in handling culturally sensitive matters led to the signing of a landmark agreement in July 2000 with the China Wildlife Conservation Association (CWCA) and the Sichuan Forestry Department (SFD). The agreement pledges to free 500 suffering Moon Bears in Sichuan and to work towards the total elimination of bear farming. Sanctioned by the Central Government Department in Beijing, this historic agreement was the first accord between the Chinese Government and any outside animal welfare organisation.
Robinson’s work has garnered increasing international recognition, including an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) from Britain’s Queen Elizabeth. “Jill Robinson is an outstanding person, she’s hugely courageous,” says Virginia McKenna, founder of the Born Free Foundation. “She will inspire many young people and is a shining example to everyone.”
Photo AAF
ABOUT ANIMALS ASIA FOUNDATION
From Wikipedia
Animals Asia Foundation (AAF) is a Hong Kong-based charity that seeks to end cruelty to animals in Asia.
The AAF was founded in 1998 by Jill Robinson, who felt compelled to create the organisation after learning of the plight of the Asiatic Black Bear known as the “Moon Bear” because of the yellow crescent on its chest. Moon Bears are farmed throughout Asia for their bile, which is used in traditional Chinese medicine. The methods used in bear bile farming involve bears living up to 25 years in crush cages with metal catheters inserted into their abdomens for bile extraction or open wounds through which the bile drips.[1]
THIS IS “WATERMELON”, ANOTHER OF OUR MISSION MOONBEAR SPONSORED BEARS /Photo AAF
Animals Asia Foundation has been profiled on CNN, NPR, Animal Planet, the BBC, the National Geographic Channel, as well as in print media in several countries. Founder Jill Robinson has received numerous distinctions for her commitment to animal welfare including the 2002 Genesis Award[2], the Reader’s Digest Hero for Today Award[citation needed] and an MBE from the Queen of the United Kingdom.[citation needed]The Foundation’s headquarters is in Hong Kong with additional offices, a sanctuary and an educational centre in China, Germany, Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom.[3]
In February 2009, Animals Asia rescued a dozen malnourished, diseased Asiatic Black Bears from abusive bile-harvesting farms in southwest China. The bears were given to Animals Asia under an agreement made in 2000 with the government to save sick bears from state and illegal farms. The animals went to the foundation’s Moon Bear Rescue Center outside Chengdu, which has handled 260 freed bears since the agreement was signed. [4]
References
American Embassy in China, “Bear Bile Farming”[5]
Animal Planet, “Animals Asia Foundation”[6]
McLaughlin,K. “Freeing China’s Caged Bile Bears”, San Francisco Chronicle, April 25, 2005[7]
External links
