Rare Sighting of Elephant Painting

As a member of the Women Painters of Washington, I am often presented with an opportunity to stretch my painting wings and try out a subject I wouldn't think to seek out on my own. In January 2016, I was included in a juried exhibition at the Bellevue Arts Museum Community Gallery featuring over 40 small works by as many artists from the WPW. The theme of show was "Women's Work" as interpreted in a wide range of historical and contemporary contexts.  My painting, "Dame Sheldrick's Wild Wiva" is a tribute to Dame Daphne Sheldrick, founder of the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, an elephant orphanage and rescue center in Kenya. I visited the Trust last September, and was incredibly moved by the work they do there.  Wiva is the offspring of an elephant that was rescued and raised by the Trust, and successfully rehabilitated into the National Park as an adult. Within a day or two of giving birth, she brought her baby Wiva back to the Trust to show her off to the keepers who had raised her. This is just one of dozens of success stories this organization can claim in preserving the endangered elephants and other animals of the Masai Mara. Thanks to the Trust for the photo on which this painting is based.