Pastel on Supertooth paper

54 X40 cm.

Sometimes when I am meeting the creatures whom I feature in my art I come face to face with something akin to meeting a long-missed friend.... a person who feels the pulse of nature just as I do and who also has dreams and hopes just the same as us. At times my heart opens to special beings where I have learned to expect a stronger than usual connection.

That was very definitely the case upon meeting the orang-utans at Singapore Zoo. I normally avoid zoos but the orangs at Singapore can free range throughout the zoo and have a very different mindset to orangs at most other zoos. They are more alert, lively and genuinely interested in what and who is moving about beneath their tree canopy.

This gorgeous 'man of the forest', (Malay word for Orang-utan) was studying me just as intently as I was studying her and I couldn't help but feel the deep connection one experiences with other like-minded beings. And to be truthful I see all sentient beings as people too.... they just wear different clothes. In this pastel artwork, I hope you get the essence of this beautiful being too.